The forbidden places
by Elana the Enchantress
Summary: very AU James Sirius and Remus are soldiers, in a war of the country. Lily is a mysterious girl who dwells in the forbidden places. They meet one day, and the fate of those four are changed forever.
1. that strange girl

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

The wailing of a child could be heard in the small house, the second born to a family. The family just passing through town had traveled long and hard heading north, where, with the escalating tensions, they believed that they would be safe. But this journey was hard, and they could not make it with a baby child, it was a miracle the mother had made it this far, with her husband and a six year old child. The mid-wife walked up to the lady and placed in her arms a beautiful baby girl with emerald green eyes.

"What are you going to name her?"

The woman was quite for the longest time. "Lily, I shall name her Lily." The she looked up at the midwife, desperation in her eyes. "Oh please lady you must take her. We can not make it with a baby. We can get situated once we get up north then send for her. Please, say you can."

The midwife at first was angry at the women, thinking she was abandoning her baby but then though it out. It was true the winter months were coming and with a baby this newly born it wouldn't last long. Compassion filled her eyes as she looked at the mother. "I don't know if anyone will want a baby girl but I'll ask around. You never know."

"Bless you lady, bless you." She closed her eyes in exhaustion and fell asleep.

They left days later and the baby girl staid with an older couple whose children had all gone. She looked sad when she left her, but then she really didn't have a choice, it was for the baby's good!

* * *

Five years later! 

That small village did not change much on five years but the baby girl Lily did. Her energy was everywhere and she was very beloved in the town. She was quite when talked to and listened to everything that was said but mostly she loved the tales of the forbidden places. It was said that in the forbidden places dark creatures were exiled and it was an evil place. No one came out alive that had entered there. Lily felt drawn to these places, she couldn't help it. The elders though noticing this, everyday told her to stay away from the forbidden forest that was a little ways off from the small town. Lily reluctantly agreed but she stood outside the forest sometimes and would swear she saw things move inside the village.

It was in the middle of spring, villages were on the edge, tensions were high. With the ongoing talk of war, and war striking in some of the areas to the south there was always an unfriendly eye turned towards you. Lily was out in the fields gathering a few apples when a loud eruption was heard. She spun around to see that smoke was coming up in the village. She ran towards it but stopped halfway in horror as she saw soldiers from the south invading, and killing everyone in sight. She screamed as she saw elders being slaughtered, some of her best friends, and even the livestock. This scream though brought to the attention of the soldiers and they pointed at her, and spurring their horses towards her. She turned and ran, and the first place she found herself running to was the forbidden forest. The soldiers stopped ten feet away as lily burst through the dense branches and moved farther in it.

She soon stumbled though and lay in a heap crying. To witness something like that, so young was something that was wrong, and should never have happened to Lily. She heard a snap of a twig behind her and looked up slowly expecting to see a soldier, but what she saw was entirely different. It was a creature as tall as a normal man, and yet it looked both human and alien. It looked at her with guarded curiosity, but when it saw the tears and the fact that there was no fear of it from her, it inched forward so as not to alarm her.

"Your name?" It said slowly in a funny accent.

"Lily." She said quietly, as she was still upset and crying a little.

"You do not fear me?"

"You have given me no reason to."

"My name is Oglith come I will take you to my village." He reached out his arms slowly and just as slowly Lily took it with her own. She spared one more glance back at her village then walked to the village with Oglith.

* * *

Present Day (Twelve years later)

James Sirius and Remus stood in ranks with the other soldiers of the war. War had been upon them for a year and they had joined the minute it was announced. Since then they had made their way up the ranks, and were names, that people respected, the one's who knew the names. They listened to their orders, and then were dismissed. They were in the south a small village that had looked to have been abandoned for quite some time now. But was more unnerving to the troops that it was a little to close for comfort to a forbidden place then was comfortable. Sirius Remus and James walked to where there gear was, and looked over at the trees uncomfortably.

"I don't see how any village could ever live this close to a forbidden place; it's just creepy and unnatural." James said taking a bite of his rations.

"Well how come you think the village has been deserted. The dark people came and wiped them out." Sirius said with mouth full spraying some of it everywhere. James shot him a dirty look but continued to eat, he had gotten used to the way Sirius ate.

"Actually if you look real close enough you can see the signs of battle, the kind of fighting the south does. That's probably the way they died." Remus said casually making the others sigh. Trust Remus to be correct even when they didn't want him to be.

At the same time they all looked at the forest and it just so happened that they all saw something supposedly move. Sirius in shock choked on what he was eating and although this really wasn't the time to be laughing James just couldn't help but snicker a little.

"Did you see that?" Sirius asked after shooting James a look that could kill. James and Remus didn't answer but it was an unspoken kind of thing that they did see something move.

"Maybe we should go investigate." James said a small glint in his eye as he glanced at Sirius.

"I don't see the harm in it as long as we don't have to go closer then five feet from it." Remus added casually. Sirius just shrugged his shoulder.

They walked a little closer to the forest but stopped five feet away from it and looked around for any sign or something or someone. They were standing there looking for about five minutes and were about to turn back when James caught sight of it. It wasn't much of a sight only the eyes. He tapped Remus and Sirius and pointed and the looked too until they could see it for themselves. There staring straight into their eyes was a pair of startling emerald green eyes. The trio couldn't say anything from shock, and continued to stare into its eyes. Finally Sirius got up the courage to talk.

"What are you?" Suddenly all of its attention was on him and he cringed expecting to burst into flames any minute, but the eyes just held curiosity, a little bit of amusement, and a lot of wariness.

It spoke nothing which made James wonder if it could speak at all. "Can you speak, and hear us?" Again it said nothing, he was about to say something else when they heard it. Her voice was quiet and yet it demanded attention.

"Yes I can." They jumped in surprise. Her eyes though still held wariness had more amusement in them.

"Are you a dark creature?" Her eyes snapped to Remus who had made the comment and hardened. She didn't answer but instead looked past them, behind them. They quickly looked to see the commander approaching the on a horse. When they turned back the eyes were no where to be seen.

"Gentlemen we are breaking camp, and I would not get so close to the forbidden forest. It would be a shame to loose good men like you." The commander then turned around and made to the head of the line. Sirius Remus, and James walked over there to get into formation they turned back one last time to see that the emerald yes were back but they were with a pair of dark brown almost black eyes next to her.

Lily watched the three men walk away from her. Humans! She was sort of ashamed to be one of them. She was aware of Oglith standing next to her and looked up at him to see him staring at the men. He finally tore his eyes away from them and walked a little farther away the beckoned Lily to join him. She did so and they walked in a comfortable silence. But Oglith noticed that Lily looked a little upset no matter how hard she tried to change it.

"What is on you mind little one?" He asked her as they walked alone.

Lily was quiet for a moment then spoke. "I just can't stand it sometimes Oglith, and I don't know how you do! I mean you aren't bad creatures certainly not enough to earn the name 'Dark Creatures'." Lily sighed in frustration. "It's just so sad that the majority of humans don't know the truth."

Oglith smiled fondly at Lily. Not many humans lived among his people out of the few, Lily was well known, for she had helped them in many ways. "Lily you know that not many people now the truth, there is just too few humans who will listen to it. And until the day comes when they will we must live like we are now."

"It's just not fair Oglith!" Lily cried out. "The innocent get punished for the crimes the others did while they get rewarded. The only reason you even in this situation is because they lied about what they did and blamed you. Then you were destined to live in this place forever, after they dubbed it the forbidden places."

"Little one, what has brought on these thoughts?"

Lily sighed. "Something those men said. They asked me if I was a 'dark creature'"

"Do not think on it, come it is almost time for the evening meal."

They walked there in silence, Lily thinking back to the day when she heard the truth. Hundreds of years ago to different raced lived in peace here but one got into some trouble with the spirits that once roamed the earth, who now dwell in darkness too. They did not want the wrath of the spirits to come down on them so when asked who did this they blamed the other tribe, know as the genji tribe, now called the Dark creatures. In a rage they banished the genji people into certain places. The other tribe, humans told everyone that they were forbidden places, where evil manipulative creatures roamed, and that no one was to go in there. When the spirits finally realized that it wasn't the genji people's doing it was too late to fix it, and in a vote among them they too went into hiding like the genji.

She had finished going over the legend when she reached the small village in the woods where she was greeted with smiles, and the small children running up to her. This had been Lily's home since she was five, since the day Oglith took her there. And it took the better half of a year for everyone to know and trust her. Lily when not on guard patrolling the area, she helped with the little kids and along with the elders of the tribe. However sometimes she was called to help. Humans were advanced in many things, especially in health solutions. Lily was sent out to get these, and other dangerous missions to help several tribes. And Lily was only too eager to help them in any way possible.

"Lily, Janine is sick. We don't know how to treat it. Can you do anything?" Some of the little kids rang out, and Lily walked to his hut where some of the elders were sitting talking. She shooed the children away to go play and entered silently.

"Elders I heard Janine is sick. Is there anything I can do?"

The eldest of the elders spoke up. "Lily I am glad you have asked, and that we did not have to seek you out. He needs this kind of medicine." He handed Lily a small leaf and on it written was the name of the medicine. "The nearest village does not carry it. I am afraid that the only one's close enough who do are the medics in the army heading south the one you saw today. Are you willing to take this job?"

Before Lily could even have doubts she bowed accepted, then was gone, to her hut, which was connected to Oglith's and gathered her stuff. She was gone before they had a chance to offer her something to eat.

* * *

Lily ran silently through the forest, an art she had mastered long ago. She stopped at the place where they had last been and saw no traces, so she ran on. It was getting late fast and the army had traveled very far from where Lily had seen them last. She reached their encampment about an hour after sunset, to find tat the three men she had talked to earlier were a little ways away from the huddled masses of the other people and they still had a fire lit. Lily had no clue how she was going to get their attention so she looked down to see a small twig. She lightly stepped on if making it snap, getting the boy's attention. The trio who had heard the snap looked up to see the emerald green eyes staring up at them, a note of urgency in them. Quietly the looked around to see if any of the other men had heard then slowly walked towards her.

"You again, what is it that you want?" Sirius asked, not in a harsh tone.

For a moment she didn't speak, then quietly opened her mouth. "I need you help. I need medicine."

"What kind of medicine." Remus asked.

They hard a small rustle then watched as her eyes looked down then she looked back up. "I don't know how to pronounce it."

"Do you have it written down?" James asked.

"Yes."

"Well hand it here then."

Lily slowly let her arm out of the trees and handed the leaf that the medicine was written on. They all looked a little startled, for someone to dwell in the forbidden forest they expected something a little bit different. James though too the leaf, and once he had it in his arm, she snapped back hers to the coverage of the forest. She suddenly realized that she had nothing she could pay them with.

"I don't have anything I can pay you with."

"Well we have this in out pack, and I think I know something that could be payment." Sirius said who took the leaf when James and Remus had looked at it."

"And what it that?" the wariness in her eyes were back like in the previous engagement they had with her.

"You answer some questions."

Lily looked thoughtful for a moment, and at the same time guarded. She needed the medicine pretty badly she didn't want Janine to die, they had grown up together. "If I can answer them and if they don't betray my people."

"Done, I'll go get it and then we'll talk!"

Sirius quietly ran back to their small fire and dug through his bag pulling out a small glass vile then ran back up to Lily and the others. "Alright question number one, what's your name?"

"Lily."

"Alright now my question, are you a 'dark creature'?" Remus asked again since he hadn't gotten an answer before.

Like before Lily's eyes hardened and there was disgust and disdain clearly written in her eyes. "No, and there are no dark creatures."

"What do you mean?" they asked skeptically.

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you Humans seldom do believe the story."

They decided to let that one go. Sirius suddenly had an idea. "If you show us what you look like, you know step out to where we can see you I'll give you this medicine, and that'll be the payment."

"And if I refuse?"

"Well it just depends on how badly you need this medicine, because we have quite a few more questions we wouldn't mind asking."

"How about five more questions, and I show you my face only?"

They thought about it. "Deal."

"Alright, where did you come from?"

"I came from the village you first saw me at."

"How was it destroyed like that?" Remus asked

"Twelve years ago southern soldiers burst into the village shortly after dawn; they destroyed everything in sight including all the people and the livestock."

"My gosh, and that's why you ran, but why did you run into the forest?"

"I had never been afraid of the forest, it wasn't as bad as people say it is, it's never as bad as people say it is."

"Where do you live now?" James asked.

"In a genji village in the forest."

"Who are the genji?"

"The people you call 'Dark creatures'." She said the last part with obvious hatred of those words.

Sirius was about to ask another question when she broke in. "You have had your five questions."

"You are right; now show us your face."

Lily sighed then slowly moved the branch that was in front of her face. They gasped when it came into view. She was beautiful, how could she live in the forest. She snapped the branch back in place. "A bargain, now where's the medicine."

Sirius held it out, and lily grabbed it. "Thank-you!" and before they could say another word she was gone, without a sound or trace.

* * *

A/N- hey okay if you review please I beg of you no flames. If you don't like it just say that, please don't add a comment. If too many people don't like it I'll delete it, if not I'll try to update it. Well thanx for trying out this experiment!

_Maddie_


	2. in the village

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

* * *

Lily burst through the trees into her home village to see that every hut was extinguished of light except for one, and she immediately made her way to that one. She slowly slipped inside to see that all of the elders were there; still keeping watch of Janine, and Oglith was there also. Lily cleared her throat and the attention of the elders settled on her, many of their faces shining with happiness, and the fact that they were proud of her. She handed the medicine to them, and watched for a minute or tow as the administrated it to Janine. When she knew that Janine was going to be alright, she excused herself and slipped back out into the cold air, and the smell of the forest, which she had grown to love. She felt Oglith come up behind her.

"Come I have saved you something to eat. We can talk for I sense that you need someone to talk to."

Lily smiled at Oglith, he always seemed to know what Lily needed, and often times, although he said it was not possible, she thought that he could read minds. She followed him without saying a word, for she didn't trust herself to speak knowing that when she opened her mouth they would want to talk about other things then just giving answers to Oglith's statements. So she kept her mouth shut until they reached the hut that was Oglith's and Lily sat down and began to eat. It was when she was halfway through eating that she was ready to talk. And the only reason she had waited this long was because she had been very hungry!

"Oglith, what do you think of this war going on in the human world?" Lily asked quietly while still stuffing the food into her mouth without actually choking.

"I can not judge it because I do not know why it has started. But I think it is a mistake. I believe that if the people are willing then most things can be finished with peaceful ways." Oglith replied smiling down at Lily. "Why do you ask little one?"

"Oh I don't know! It's just I talked to the three boys that I talked to earlier. They are no more older then what I am, and still it seems too young for anyone that age and around that age to be in a war. I know it happens all the time but still." Lily trailed off still thinking on what she had said.

"What did those boys take as payment?" Oglith finally asked after a minute or two of silence.

"Questions to answers." Lily decided to leave the fact that she had shown her face to them. She didn't know how he would react, and even when it isn't on purpose news travels very fast in the small villages of the genji people.

"What kind of questions?"

"Just about who I am, why I dwell in the forbidden places, and if I'm a 'Dark creature'." Lily grimaced as the word left her mouth. She truly hated that word more then anything else she hated.

"I see. The elders would like to speak to you in the morning, but they said to sleep late, for you have deserved it. Now you should go get some sleep, you were on patrols early this morning and you stayed out late, you need to get some sleep!"

"Yes Oglith." Lily said smiling, and then she hugged the man and walked to her little hut. And as her head hit the people she fell into a dreamless night.

* * *

Lily woke late in the morning, but didn't worry since it was as she had been told to do. She stretched, and then smiled as she felt a small almost undetectable lump under her bed. In a speed which she had acquired with training, she reached out with her hand and brought a laughing little girl out from her bed.

"What's this? I don't remember ever seeing this before. Well we'll just make sure it's something normal." And with a blink of the eye Lily had reached down and began to tickle the little girl until tears from laughing so hard were falling down her face. When she finally finished the little girl was too out of breath to say anything.

Mindy was the little girl who had attached herself to Lily at a very young age. Whenever Lily had free time, you could usually see Mindy not too far away from her. Lily set Mindy down in a chair then began to scrounge around for some breakfast. The two usually ate together because Mindy did this quiet often, almost every day, she would come into the hut and find a place to hide. The only day's she didn't do it in was the day's that Lily had morning patrol.

"You're up awful early Mindy." Lily said smiling as she teased the girl.

"No you're just up late." She replied in her childish that's that tone.

"So did you stay out of trouble yesterday while I was gone?" Lily expected her to say yes but when she heard no reply she turned around to see that Mindy was bowing her head and looking very guilty.

"Oh, No Mindy, what did you do now!" Lily asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Awww Lily, it's nothing that you wouldn't have done if you were in my position." Mindy looked up giving Lily her big google eyes that worked for the majority of the adults with the exception of Lily and a few others. When Mindy say that she wasn't going to be let off the hook she continued on in a defeated voice. "Well if you must know, Tommy came up to me and started saying all thesemean andnasty things to me."

Mindy stopped there and when Lily turned to look at her she was staring at an ornament on Lily's wall with fascination. It might have worked had that Ornament not been there since she was ten.

"And what was your reply to those mean andnasty comments?" Lily asked as she placed the breakfast in front of Mindy and the place where she sat down.

"I punched him in the nose." Mindy replied her voice barley louder then a whisper.

Lily shook her head with silent laughter. It was true, once she had been accepted and went to things with her new found friends the genji people learned that Lily could take care of herself. There was many times when she had sent Janine home with a black eye.

"You're going to have to learn to stop punching the boys Mindy or you'll never get a boyfriend." Lily said laughing harder at the disgusted look she was given when she said it too.

They finished their breakfast talking about little things, and telling each other jokes, when Lily realized that she still had the meeting with the elders. She waved goodbye to Mindy who ran off with some friends, cleaned up the mess, then slowly walked over to the hut where the elders usually convened. She stepped in keeping to the back until she was noticed and invited in, as was the custom. It did not take long for this to happen though her presence was noted very soon, and she was beckoned in as if there was a great emergency in it.

"Lily we are glad you have come, we have just made the final decision and everything is ready for you." One of the oldest of the elders said, the other nodding their heads in agreement.

"Lily we would ask something of you, and you are free to reject that is you're decision. But before you make up your mind here us out. This journey will not be easy, and at a lot of times, not very pleasant."

"You will have to brave many dangers, and go to places far away from the comfort and home of the genji tribes. This will help benefit our knowledge though it is not necessary."

"Lily we would ask you to be an observer of the war for however long you feel necessary. You are always welcome to return here for visits, but we would like you to travel with both sides of the armies of possible to see the different views."

"Should you accept to do this, all of the genji tribes in all the forests across the country will know of you and you will be welcome in any village you come upon." The last of the elders finished up the chain of the passing of the words.

"We do not want your answer now, we want you to think on this, and think on it hard, because it is your choice and you must do what feels best for you. We will be in this hut again at a later hour; if you have you decision then please come forward if not then that is fine. Now go and think about this." The eldest of the elders said to her

Lily bowed to them thoughts swimming in her head about what she had just been asked to do. The though of going so far away from the village and the forest she knew so well scared her. She knew very little of the human world, their customs and beliefs. It would be hard for her to adjust, and yet she felt this odd urge to go ahead with it. It was saying what's life without some risks?

Lily though on this throughout the day, when she ate and she even discussed it with Oglith a little, though he gave no hint on what e would choose. He did not want to influence the choice of Lily's. As the day progressed and soon night was once more on the genji village Lily walked to a hut off to the side and quietly entered. There in a bed lay the sleeping Janine. He looked worn out but a lot more healthy then he had last night. She hadn't meant to wake him up but she made a small sound as she was about to leave when he woke up and smiled at Lily.

"Hey." Was all he got out of his mouth and he grimaced a little as he tried to sit up in bed. Lily was by his side in an instant helping him up a little.

"You probably shouldn't be moving this early. How are you feeling?"

"Better than yesterday. Thanks for the medicine."

"No problem, I'll just put it on your 'I owe Lily list.'" Janine laughed at this.

"So how long is it going to be now?"

"Well it's been steadily growing. Listen you get your sleep." And before Janine could protest she went on. "I'll wake you up tomorrow and we can talk longer, I just wanted to make sure that you were all right now!"

Lily could tell he wasn't feeling too much better because he did what he was told with almost no complaint then Lily slipped back outside. She had made up her decision. She had decided that she would take this mission, it might help her grow to be a person and it would help her a lot in many other ways. She took a deep breath and walked over to where the elders always convened and quietly stepped in. her arrival was noticed immediately and she was beckoned in.

"Have you decided?" The eldest of them all asked.

"Yes I have. I will go and be the eyes of our people on the war front." Lily replied her head set in a defiant way.

The elders smiled at her, she was truly one of them no matter how she looked. So they gave her their blessings and things that would help her in the future. A black cloak to shield her from prying eyes, and the last gift given was a long sharp sword that was very precious to the genji people and who they only entrusted it to people they knew would look after it. They told Lily that she would have a day or two before she would have to leave. And so Lily bowed and was out of the hut before many could wish her the best of luck again. Lily walked quickly and quietly back to her small hut and closed the flap fastening it to where no one could come in. she set down the things she had been given and took a deep breath.

She knew she had done the right thing and yet, she was feeling terribly scared and wasn't quite sure if she was going to make it back to the people she had known for almost half of her life. She drifted off to sleep with these thoughts still swimming around.

* * *

The next day or two Lily spent a lot of time with Janine and Mindy both of who were into happy that she would be leaving the village for so long. In fact she was given a lot of protesting when the village became aware, and she was hounded quite a bit. The only time she found relaxation and peace was when she was on patrol with Oglith where they talked little or about things that weren't about her leaving. Dawn woke Lily up on the day she was leaving and she pulled herself out of bed. She grabbed her pack that was sitting next to her bed. She had packed most of her things the night before but she still had a last few minute things to add. Including a book or two she had picked up on some of her journeys into local villages, and some food for the journey. When she exited her hut she found to her astonishment most of the village up to see her off on her journey.

Lily smiled at them all then put on her black cloak, leaving the hood of it down. She walked down the middle stopping to hug a crying Mindy and a solemn Janine. And then she also stopped to give a large hug to Oglith who was like her father. She continued to walk down the empty path between the people and stopped before the elders. They smiled kindly at Lily and stretched out the hand each of them holding a pouch. Lily, a little confused, reached out and took every single one glancing in them to see that every single one had a little bit of money in them. She looked back up at them in disbelief.

"I can't take your money. It's just wrong."

"Lily you will need to get food many times in the upcoming journey, and a few other things. Please accept this as your going away gift. That money will be put to better use with you then it ever will in the hands of us."

Lily only nodded. She put them in a small hidden pocket of the cloak nodded to everyone then set her shoulders in a determined stance then walked away from everything she knew into the unknown of what she had to face.

* * *

A/N- I'm sorry if this is a little bit shorter then other chapters but I would like to start the journey of the war in its own chapter. I want to thank everyone so much; I really hadn't expected it to get such enthusiastic reviews. Thank you to my reviewers so much!

-Mika Rieu-  
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-mimi-  
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-Dee Ann-  
-Flame Of Desire-  
-warrior of tortall-  
-soft N' Fluffy-

Again thank you all so much I hope you like this chapter. Feel free to suggest some things too.

_-Maddie-_


	3. getting started

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

As Lily walked into the forest a sense that something was missing seemed to consume her heart and she almost turned around and ran back to the forest to tell the elders that she didn't want to do this. But then she stopped herself took a deep breath and remembered that she could come back and visit any time that she wanted too, and that this was for the villages so that they could learn just a little bit more about the humans and their world. So she set back her shoulders and continued into the forest, she would have to go between two villages so that she could enter on the road and no one would see her come out of the forests. That had happened to one of the other humans who lived among the forbidden places with the genji. He hadn't gone out far enough and was seen. They killed him under the belief that he was a 'dark creature'. And ever since Lily had heard that story she had always made sure no village was in sight, and there was no one on the roads.

As Lily reached the part that she was going to step out she inched forward crouching down and looked both ways from the forests protection, and saw that no one was in sight. But some sort of wariness wouldn't let her go into the street, and she couldn't quite figure it out. But then the ground creaked a little, not very noticeable but Lily was used to looking for signs such as these. She put her hand onto the ground and felt the very faint vibrations up her arm. A carriage was coming and she thanked the genji people enthusiastically in her heads, because it had been them who had taught her to read the earth, and to always go by your senses, not just by your eyes. They had told Lily that the senses are usually right, and that the eyes can betray very easily. Lily watched as the carriage came into view around a curved point and on it had a sign. It was saying that any food donated to this cart went to their boys on the southern front. Lily smiled, 'well at least some of them were generous' she thought as she saw that the cart was almost overflowing.

When the cart was out of sight and her senses told her that it was safe to come out. Lily eased herself out of the forest and walked quickly to the road. She looked both ways trying to figure out where to go, but for some reason she felt drawn towards the area that the man driving the cart had headed. So she placed the hood of her cloak up and walked down the long and winding road towards and uncertain future.

* * *

When Lily had reached the next village she found that she was the object of many peoples curiosity. She found that where ever she stepped she was watched, and this feeling frightened her, and made her uneasy. One gentleman actually came up to talk to her, but Lily wouldn't let him get closer then three feet from her.

"May I ask where you're going stranger?"

"I'm just passing through."

She watched as the stranger jumped at the sound of her voice, he obviously wasn't expecting a women, not that she blamed him all that much. Lily had known from when she came into towns looking for stuff for the villages that women were not thought of too highly, and that they apparently were not supposed to be individualists. Before the man could get over his shock Lily turned around and headed towards the exit of the town, and was very thankful that the man was not following her. She walked a very good distance to where the village was completely out of sight and then she sat down on the side of the road, shaking a little. This was not her area of expertise, and she felt insignificant and like an unwanted child.

She sat there for five minutes or around there when the earth began to vibrate just a little like it had before. Lily looked up to see that the wagon was coming around the corner the same plump but cheerful looking man in the front of it whistling a quaint little tune. He stopped short as he reached Lily and looked down at her curiously. Lily remembering that she hadn't put her hood back up.

"What's a lass like you doing way out here, if you don't mind me asking." He called down at her his voice jolly though.

"I don't know why I'm out here in this forsaken place." Lily said her voice cracking.

He obviously could tell that she was close to hysterics and smiled down at the girl. She reminded him of his daughter, long gone, and yet she also reminded him of his son, strong and proud, but not afraid to show his weakness.

"Are you okay lass?" He asked in a gentle tone.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm trying to get to the front, and I'm afraid that I cause scenes in the villages I go to."

"Why would you want to go to the front?" He asked a little surprised.

"See if I could be any help, to witness what actually goes on in the places."

"Well then I can help you out with your problem."

"What do you mean?" She asked looking up at him warily.

He only smiled. "I mean I'm going up to the front to give this food out the men, you want to go to the front to help out. You say though that you cause scenes, well you act as if you're my daughter, and you won't be looked at as funnily. I'm afraid women aren't thought of too highly around here."

"I've noticed." Lily said dryly making the gentleman laugh. "Okay, thank you for your help."

"No problem lass, why don't you climb up here?"

He moved over a little and made some room for Lily. Lily got up and grabbed her stuff she placed it next to the man, and then sat down too. When she saw that they weren't getting started she looked over to the man to see that he was staring down at the sword. She watched as he gently picked it up and stared at it, some unknown emotion in his eyes.

"Now this is something I haven't seen in a long, long time."

Lily snapped her head in his direction a lot of emotions in her eyes but the one that was the loudest was curiosity, and a lot of wariness. "You've seen this sword before?"

He didn't say anything but finally looked up over at Lily. "I don't suppose you have a necklace on you?" He asked her.

"I don't know, why do you ask?"

The man smiled and from under his shirt he took out a small necklace that had a wooden star carved on it. Lily gasped, and slowly from under her own shirt took an identical looking one. These necklaces were given to the humans that the genji people knew and trusted.

"You've lived with the genji people." Lily said amazed.

"Aye lass that I have. There is a match to this sword; I was able to carry it once or twice. But I only saw this one once before. You must be very beloved to have earned the honor to carry this sword. May I ask what you name is."

"Lily, my name is Lily."

"I've heard about you in my village. In fact every genji village has heard about you. I wouldn't have expected one so young to be the one to have done all those things. I understand now why they gave you this sword, and this mission."

"What are you doing out here then?"

"Well I'm on the same mission; I'm getting some information for the villages near me on the war. I volunteered and went instead of my son or daughter."

"You have a son and daughter."

"Yes, they were raised in the genji village but have families now, I'd hate to see one of them die. I've lived a good life so if I die, it will be better then if a younger person dies. By the way my names Frank."

Lily smiled. "I've heard of you too, I know that the villages were I live think very highly of you and your family. How long have you been living with the genji?"

"Since I was fifteen, that where I found Jamie, she's another human who helps the genji. We married when I was twenty."

"Where is she now?" Lily asked quietly so as not to make it appear that he had to answer, in case the answer was painful.

"She's up in the mountain villages helping out. She won't be back till a month or two. So I decided to help out to and not just sit their and wait. How long have you been with the genji people, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Since I was five." Lily said. "The human village I used to live in was attacked one morning, and fleeing from the southern soldiers I found myself running into the forest, where I met Oglith, and he took me to his village."

"So you grew up in a genji village too."

"Yeah though it took them the better part of half of a year to trust me completely. But after that it was good."

"Well we better get going; we'll probably reach the front in two to three days." He said getting the horse to keep going. Because they hadn't budged an inch since Frank saw that sword. Lily was very happy on whom she had found, and she was glad she had decided to follow this cart. It seemed that luck might just be on her side as she had felt it had been with her since the beginning.

* * *

It took them three days to get to the front, because the stopped in an inn every night of their trip and stayed in the morning to take donations if anyone had them and to get ready for the morning. Frank was true to his word too, when the village people found that she was his "Daughter" they asked no questions and usually didn't stare at her, for which Lily was grateful. Frank and Lily talked long during their rides on various things, and some things that had happened to them in the genji villages. Lily told Frank all about Mindy, and how she really missed that little girl and was hoping that she would stay out of trouble.

Their talk died though as they got closer to the lines. It was always the hospitals you see first and as they saw that they went quietly Lily, with her hood up, took in the horror of the war. She suddenly agreed with Oglith one hundred percent. She hadn't understood the horror of war but as she stared at all the death around her she believed that a peaceful solution would have been so much better then all this killing and death everywhere. Lily hopped down from the carriage, as it came up to a stop, and walked with Frank over to the commanders' headquarters. When they reached there, they found it to be in a panic, and not in very good order. Frank entered and cleared his throat. The commander in charge looked up at him curiously.

"What?"

"Sir, I have brought a cart full of food for your soldiers. It's donations from villages all across the country."

The commander looked shocked because this wasn't what he had been expecting. He had expected that this man and the figure next to him had wanted to join the army. He would have called them fools and told them to go live a happy life but he found that because he had been expecting this that he didn't have words to reply to what had just been said. In fact the whole tent had stopped in the chaos and looked extremely grateful.

"May I have your names?" The commander finally asked.

Frank nodded. "I am Frank, and this is my daughter Lily."

"Your daughter!" He said in wonder, because not many women traveled the countryside when there was a war going on. Plus since there was a sword in a scabbard on her waist he had assumed it was a man. He watched as Lily cocked her head as if asking him if he had a problem with the fact that she was a woman.

"Well thank you very much it is greatly appreciated I can assure you of that. It's hard to find provisions down here, and as it happens we were getting low on ours.These two will follow you to where it is and if you don't mind help unload?"

"Of course." Frank said, then with Lily following him, and the two soldiers following them they went to the cart which now had a small crowd next to it. And as Lily came closer she noticed that among the crowd were the three boys she had talked to about a week ago. She walked quickly up to Frank and whispered into his ear about the three boys and asked him not to say her name, just in case they remembered her. He nodded and walked forward. He climbed up onto the cart and stood up to get the attention of everyone, Lily stood below him on the ground. The three boys noticed her though only because her hand was lying limply next to one of the most beautiful swords that they had ever seen.

"Gentlemen and the occasional lady." He began making the soldiers loosen a little and laugh. "I bring to you some food donated from villages across the entire country. I hope that it will fill you empty bellies and make you very satisfied. My name in Frank and this here is my daughter. I'll have to warn you though, she doesn't put up with anything and she doesn't talk all that much."

Lily underneath her cloak smiled and for two reasons. The first because Frank had gotten her out of talking and people messing with her not to mention he didn't say her name aloud but also for the reactions of the soldiers as they looked in her direction saw the sword by her hand and watched as there eyes got large. Lily walked over to the cart and grabbed the bag on the top, and following the point of one of the soldiers headed to the supply tent the soldiers moving out of her way.

Frank joined her the second time, and soon all the soldiers around her were helping though keeping there distance from her. Lily walked up to frank and said quietly to where no one else would be able to hear, but she knew he would be able to, told him thanks and continued to store things in the tent. By the time they finished unloading though it was getting close to dark and they didn't like to travel in dark. So with the two soldiers leading she walked behind Frank to the commanders headquarters again.

"Sir, we have finished unloading." Said one of the soldiers in front of them.

"Already, very good soldier. Would you two like to stay the evening, so you do not have to travel in the dark?" The commander asked directing his question at Frank and Lily.

Frank glanced at Lily who just inclined her head a little telling him that it was okay with her. So Frank turned around to the commander and smiled. "That would be wonderful thank-you."

"Oh no problem not after what you've done. We can get you a tent I'm afraid that we don't have anything more luxurious." He said looking over in Lily's direction, which for some reason made her mad.

"I am fine with a tent." She said which made everyone jump, including Frank, but he only smiled down at Lily. The others were shocked, her voice was quite and yet it commanded attention. The same thing the boys had noticed a week earlier.

"Very good, then a tent it is, I will have someone come and help you put it up unless you know how to do that."

"I think we can handle it, if you'll just show us where we're supposed to set up then we'll get the cart over there and pitch up the tent." Frank said smiling at them, a few of which were still staring at the hooded figure of Lily.

"Of course. Soldier Garrison will show you where you will set up."

One of the soldiers that had helped Lily and Frank unload and who had followed them, stepped up and walked out with the two following him. He walked off to a mostly deserted area with only a few tents here and there. And said that this would probably be the best place, away from most of the noise, and best if you want an early start. Frank thanked him smiling but Lily only nodded her head. He gave them a tent and then was gone. Lily Sighed took the tent from Frank, who said he was going to get the cart and began to set it up. It wasn't that different from a hut, which when you were old enough to have one, you built yourself, then set it up yourself, getting help from friends if you needed it.

She almost had it up when she felt someone approaching her from behind, and turned to find that it was none other then the three boys whom she had talked to about a week earlier. They were looking at her curiously.

"You've put up a tent before haven't you?" James asked making sure he kept his distance, this girl sort of demanded it with her presence.

She nodded her head saying yes and continued to put it up and secure it. When it was finished she threw her pack in it but stayed outside her sword still hanging by her waist.

"Do you talk?" Remus asked

Lily shrugged her shoulder, meaning that it comes and goes, sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't. Before they could ask anymore question though Frank came back with the cart and smiled at the three boys.

"How do you do?" He said as he parked the cart and then looked at the tent. "You did a good job." He said directing it at Lily but making sure he didn't say her name. She just shrugged her shoulders and he laughed, which made the three boys jump. They looked at each other apparently she was saying more with that shrug then they were getting out of it.

"Fine, actually we just came to ask a question." Sirius said looking over at Lily still.

"Well then by all means ask away." Frank said cheerfully as he stepped down. And tied up the horse.

"Well we were wondering where she got her sword from, it's beautiful." James asked the question this time.

Lily just nodded her head towards Frank, telling him that he could handle this and walked inside the tent, the boys staring after her.

"You'll have to forgive her; she doesn't really like to talk. She got that sword from someone very close and dear to her. More then one person actually. It was specially made, and I don't think you'll be able to find another one like that."

"Oh." Remus said disappointed, he would have minded a sword like that. It looked very dependable.

"Well if you boys don't mind we need some sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow, and we're going to need to talk to the commander."

"Oh, sorry we hadn't meant to keep you. Have a good sleep." James said and they waved at Frank as they walked off, and when Sirius turned back one last time, he could have sworn that he saw a pair of emerald green eyes.

* * *

It was late in the night, and Frank and Lily had talked long and hard trying to decide what she was going to do. If this was the encampment she would stay at and travel with or if she wanted to move on to another encampment. Lily still trying to decide for the decision in the morning could not get a wink of sleep. So she slipped on her black cloak, pulled the hood up over her head, and stepped out into the moonlight and walked into a small field. A little ways away you could see the distant tree tops of the forest. She stared at them wistfully and stood there for some time thinking on many things.

James Sirius and Remus on the other hand woke up as they heard Lily pass there tents. All three of them peeked out of their tent and watched as she stopped in the middle of the field and stared of into the distance not making any sign of moving anytime soon. They all scrambled out of their tents and cautiously walked towards her. And what made them scared the most was that they weren't even halfway towards her when she spun around her hand on her sword. That made them stop dead in their tracks.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to startle you, we were just wondering why you were out her alone at this time of night." James said.

He didn't really know what to expect, I guess an answer but she gave them none. She took her hand away from the sword and stared at them to see what they were going to do. Sirius in particular hated the silence, the only time he found that he liked it was when it was at night and he was ready to go to sleep. And the fact that this girl wouldn't talk to them was just aggravating the daylights out of him.

"Can you even speak?" He asked exasperated.

Lily nodded her head, and beneath her hood she smiled in amusement, she hadn't realized how much he hated the silence until now and it was funny to see him like this.

"Are you going to speak?" Remus asked in a more clam voice.

She shook her head no and her smile grew larger as they watched them sigh in defeat.

"Well can we at least look at your sword?" James asked, since that's what interested him the most at the current moment.

She shrugged and they came a little closer, but not too close. She took the sword out of itsscabbard and they stepped closer to it as if it was Christmas, they were little kids and they had just been shown something that they had begged there parents to get them. Lily carefully handed it over to James, who just as carefully took it and looked at it. On it were markings, some which he had never seen before, and it looked like they were words, but it was a foreign kind of writing. After they had all finished looking at it James handed it back to Lily carefully, and in one great swoop she had placed it inside its scabbard showing them that she clearly knew how to use it.

So how come you won't talk to us?" Remus asked

Lily only shrugged her shoulders.

"Will you tell us your name?" James asked.

Lily only shook her head no.

But she must have heard something because she turned around to look at something and in that brief moment Sirius took two steps forward and pulled down her hood hat was hiding her face. She turned around in shock, and was greeted by the equally shocked faces of the three boys. They were staring into the emerald eyes of Lily, the girl they had seen in the forbidden forest!

* * *

A/N- Hey here's the next chapter I hop you liked it, it's a little longer then my other one. I have a new updating system in my profile so if you wanna see which one I'll be updating next just check it out. Thanx to all of my reviewers.

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-Dee Ann-  
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Again thanx to all of you, you are awesome. I hope you liked the chapter

-_Maddie_-


	4. making an apperance

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily scowled at the boys and stared at them head on, anger showing in her flashing emerald green eyes. The boys were so shocked because they recognized her face and they could never forget her face. They couldn't say a word and Lily decided that she would be the one to start since she was upset and had a lot of anger that she could thrash at them.

"Tell me why I shouldn't hurt you right now." Lily said as she twitched her fingers in restraint.

"You are the girl from the forest." James said shocked as they heard her voice.

"Yes I am, and you three are the stupid obnoxious boys who obviously don't know when to keep their hands to themselves." Lily snapped and got some satisfaction as all of them cringed.

"What are you doing out here?" Remus asked.

"None of your business." She stated coldly.

"Well why are you angry." Sirius asked.

"Are you really that stupid?" Lily asked then at their blank faces she took it as a yes. "Maybe it's the fact that you ripped my hood off when you had no business to. You've just ruined everything."

"I just wanted to know who you were." Sirius said in a matter of fact voice.

"Well then you should have put up with the fact that you can't get everything you want." She snapped making them cringe again.

"Wait a second I thought your father died in the village."

"No my father left me when I was a few days old." She said looking at them with a little less hostility.

"Then who is this Frank guy"

"A friend, he's helping me." She said calmly.

"Is he a genji?" Remus asked.

"No, he's a friend of the genji."

"So what are you doing here?" James asked.

"This is my mission to find out what the war is about and why you humans have to do it instead of going through a peaceful way." She said very guarded meaning they weren't going to get much else out of her.

"Do you now how to use that thing?" James asked suddenly pointing at the sword.

"Probably better then you do." Then she actually laughed out loud at their affronted faces, which scared the crap out of them which made her laugh harder. They were relieved to know she could laugh.

"Alright, tomorrow at dawn, here, you and me." James said looking at her to see if she was going to go through it.

"Fine."

"Without the cloak?" Sirius asked.

They watched as she looked really hesitant but decided word would get around anyways, especially with these three no doubt have big mouths. "Fine, without the cloak."

She walked away from them and in a blink was gone they looked at where she had disappeared to in wonder; they could learn a lot of things from her. They slowly walked back to their tents and went to sleep. Lily though didn't get any more sleep which was normal for her now. She didn't sleep now days, not since she had left the comfort of her forest. Frank woke up with the dawn which he did every day and looked over at the figure of Lily.

"Didn't get any sleep did you?"

"I got a little. I'm going to be in a duel today." She said quietly.

"Wow a lot happened last night."

"Those boys followed me out into the field and one of them took of my hood so they recognized me. Then they asked me if I knew how to use my sword and I got a little cocky and said I probably knew how to use it better then he did, and then he set up the duel, and I have to do it without my cloak, so I'm in a lot of trouble. Nothing is going like I had planned it." She said in a frustrated sigh and Frank looked over and smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it, you will find that with time things will work out the way they are supposed to, you just have to let things run their courses." Frank said patting Lily on the cheek making her smile.

Lily looked out from the crack in her and Frank's tent and saw a crowd gathering at the small little meadow, and she watched as the one called James began to stretch. She sighed heavily and knew she would have to face it sooner or later. She placed on her cloak, who knows she might get away from it, then grabbed her sword and walked calmly out of her tent. In fact she walked more calmly then she actually felt inside. Inside it felt like her stomach was in a huge mess twisting and clumping together. She watched as the crowds parted in front of her, many of the faces were practically laughing at her thinking she was the one who was supposed to beat James. None of them believed that she could do it, then she was filled with an overwhelming urge to prove herself and her insides lessened it their rebellion. She walked into the area that was set aside and saw as James finished his stretching. He looked up at her and smiled, not a smug smile just a good morning kind of smile.

"Remember no cloak." James said as he inclined his head at hers.

Lily sighed, I mean had she really expected him to let her wear her cloak. The answer to that question was of course she hadn't expected him to. She sighed again and saw that every single person in the crowd, and to her amazement even the commander was there taking an interest in the fight, so she took off the cloak and tried to ignore the gasps that ran among the crowd. She turned around took out her sword from the sheathe and threw it were her cloak was she then walked to the middle of the circle and looked at James.

"Don't go easy on me, because I won't go easy on you."

I guess James took that the wrong way because he threw her a look saying he wasn't. They saluted to each other then both immediately took the guard position. They slowly circled each other looking to see how nimble they would be on the battlefield. Finally James lunged and Lily blocked and she immediately was next to him trying to strike him. They did this for the next minute or two trying to figure out the others weakness, then neither one of them finding any of them they decided just to attack until one of them tired out. James was an experienced soldier so many though that that would be the best advantage for the fight but Lily had obviously had practice and she was much more flexible and nimble. From all the times she had gone on patrol Lily had picked up many things, one was being able to jump high and do flips. So as James lunged for a third time in the fight Lily back flipped and kicked the sword away from its position. It stunned him but he regained just in time to block the attack that Lily charged in with.

Some were amazed that Lily had lasted this long. They were brought sword in sword, practically touching each otherand even though James was trying with all his might to overpower Lily she wouldn't budge. In a swoop both swords leaped out of their hands to the far corner of the circle. Lily jumped back and flicked out a knife at the same time James did the same thing. They crouched in front of each other, regaining their breath and trying to figure out how the other would probably be with a knife. James acted first and came at her in a sweeping motion with his knife hand. Lily blocked every attempt he tried to get at her and either one of them could find a break in the other persons fighting skills. It was just like with the swords Lily though foundthe perfectopening but it was a small one. Just as James lunged at her for the second time with the knife she jumped over him spun quickly and had her knife at his neck within the same second.

There was a murmur of surprise at this and even James looked shocked. He dropped his knife and Lily stepped back and placed it back in her wrist scabbard. She walked to where her sword was grabbed hers and her sheathe then grabbed James's and handed it to him.

"Thank-you Lily."

"You're Welcome."

Both were out of breath and both looked exhausted. Lily had gained every single person in the audience's respect. She walked back to the tent where her and Frank shared without another word and James watched as Lily was embraced by Frank a proud look on his face. No matter what Lily said, he thought that Frank was a father figure to Lily. He was soon surrounded by the other soldiers all of them congratulating him even though he lost. They said that it was one of the best fights they had seen in a long, long time. But his mind was still on Lily, and wondering where she had learned all those things, and if she would ever be willing to teach him some of the things she knew.

* * *

Lily spent the rest of the day not doing much, except for trying to figure out if she was going to stay here or go with Frank until he delivers to another encampment and stay there. She somehow figured though that news of the fact that she was a girl and that she could take care of herself was probably already spreading across the encampments. So she really didn't know what to do. One thing though was annoying her greatly. Some of the soldiers would walk across in front of her tent to get a glimpse of her, and not only was it distracting but Lily did not like all the attention she was getting. Finally being able to stand it no longer she grabbed her cloak put it on, though leaving the hood down since it really didn't matter anymore, and walked out towards the field, since not many people were there, and she needed to breathe.

Lily truly hated closed up areas. I guess you could call her claustrophobic, and she was. Lily also grabbed a book on her way out and as she passed quite a few people stopped to watch what she was doing and many of the men moved out of her way. Lily ignored all of this and continued to walk until she had reached a thoroughly abandoned area of the field and sat down among the tall grass to where almost all of her couldn't be seen except her shoulders and her head. It was mostly noticeable because of her flaming read hair. James Sirius and Remus had just gotten back from practice and training time when they saw her sitting there.

"You know she's a really good fighter, which makes me wonder where she learned it all." Sirius said as they stowed away all of their gear in the tent except for their swords which they carried at all times in case of a surprise attack.

"Yeah, and she's extremely nimble, and she can do all those flips. And we all now that she can move silently if she needs to." Remus commented as they gazed at her.

"Well why don't we go talk to her, I mean the worst that can happen is that she's gonna just walk away." James said as he walked towards her, the others having no choice but to follow him.

They walked up behind her and by the way she tensed up you could tell she knew someone was behind her. She turned her head and stared at them for a few minutes then turned back around to continue reading her book. The three took this sign as an I don't care what you dokind of thing so they approached her and sat a small distance away from her. She didn't say anything but continued to read, but the silence between them wasn't an awkward one.

"So Lily, where did you learn to fight like that?" Sirius finally asked breaking the silence, which he never really liked.

"I learned in the genji village. A swordsman would visit every year and train those who were willing. I was willing, and no one else minded so I was able to train. Plus the Genji people are excellent sword makers. So there was plenty to practice with." She looked up at them now and they noticed that she didn't mind talking to them that much, though they suspected if she didn't want to tell them something or they asked the wrong kind of question they wouldn't even get a peep out of her.

"That's cool, is that also where you learned to jump like that, and to move silently?" Remus asked the question this time.

"No, Oglith taught me those, and some of the other women who knew how to fight. Everyone in the genji villages now how to move silently it is one of the first things we are taught. It has saved our lives many times too. When we are on patrol often if trouble arises or we're seen we have to move quickly and silently so no one can follow us, or learn the direction of where the village is." Lily said in a matter of fact voice.

"Sounds like a hard job, were you on Patrol when we met you the first few times?" James asked as he leaned back a little.

"Yes, and No. The first time I was on patrol when you saw me, the second I was on a mission. A friend of mine was in pretty bad health, and you were the closest resource that had the right kind of medicine."

"Is your friend okay?" Remus asked.

"Yes he's doing a lot better when I left the village." They watched as Lily's face brightened a little when she thought of her home village. They couldn't help but smile a little too.

"Do you think you could show us some of your tricks?" Sirius asked as he leaned forward eagerly.

"Like what?" Lily said laughing a little at the antics of Sirius.

"I don't know, I mean is there anyway that you could show us how to do some of the jumps, or will it take too long?" Sirius asked looking thoughtful. "How long did it take you to master that art?"

"Well not long for me, but I was six and seven when I began my training. You could learn it, it would just take longer and a lot more practice then if you were younger. It's actually better if you learn it early." Lily said thoughtful. "I could show you a few tricks, then move on to the jumping. The tricks can help you a lot; sometimes it's easier to do them, then the jumping. And their a little more reliable sometimes too." Lily said looking over at the eager faces of the three boys and knowing already that their answer was that they would definitely love to at least try and learn. "Okay, when do you want to start?"

"As soon as possible." Sirius said quickly Remus and James nodding their head in agreement.

"Okay then we'll start tomorrow." She said as she looked out over the plain. Light was quickly fading and a few stars could be seen.

A bell rang out behind them signaling the time for supper and the three boys got up and started heading back towards the encampment. They noticed though Lily wasn't joining them. When they looked back she was standing but it looked as if every muscle in her body was tense and alert, and she was looking over to the gap between trees, that led to a clearing.

"What's wrong Lily?" Remus asked as he too looked in the direction.

Lily raised her hand and quickly hissed out. "SHH!"

They looked at each other confused and tried to make no noise as they stared past her too. They watched as Lily stepped back a few paces taking glances at where she stepped and what she was supposedly looking at. Sirius stepped back to only he stepped on a twig making it step loudly. They watched as Lily cringed and lowered herself a little. All of a sudden they saw a movement from the trees and before any of the three could react they watched as an arrow made its way towards them. Lily though did react. She reached out her hand and caught it right before it hit them.

"Run, we're under attack, tell everyone." Lily yelled as she silently made her way to her tent and was back with a bow.

James, Sirius, and Remus took out their swords and as one yelled in a loud voice.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! ALL MEN TO THE FIELD IMMEDIATLEY!"

And then they plunged towards the oncoming southern soldiers, and towards the now rapidly firing Lily.

* * *

A/N- I know I know you hate me but I though it would be fun to leave it off like this. Anyways I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I hope you like it. Thanx a million times to my reviewers.

-hypa4evr-  
-jmarit17-  
-Dee Ann-  
-emerald eyes of flame-  
-stars-above-  
-livingdead2010-  
-sirius'girl4eva99-  
-will-herm-simetra-  
-Fairy-GYAKUTENNO-MEGAMI-  
-firewalker32-  
-mimi-  
-soft N' fluffy-

Again thanx so much for all of your support. I hope you liked this chapter  
-_Maddie_-   



	5. the battle

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily stood a good distance away from where she had started, and was firing rapidly with her long bow to the people who spared a glance, theyhadn't even thought she was firing, her hand moved so fast. While firing she spared a thought of the fact that nothing was going as she had planned it. No one was supposed to see her face, she wasn't supposed to be fighting in a battle that truthfully had nothing to do with her. But then she couldn't spare too much energy to think harder on these things because the enemy was closing up on them fast. Lily at the last moment stopped firing and as a large man came screaming at her his sword raised and ready to strike her down she did two things at once. One she lashed out and kicked the man in the face before he could even realize it was moving towards him, and two she threw her bow into the tree a short distance from her, making sure it stayed then quickly drew her knife, and sword. No sooner had she gotten them out then another man charged her.

She parried his attack and was instantly by his side, listening to him swear at her for her swiftness, and then he was silent, as Lily used a mercy stroke and slit his throat causing him to die instantly with no pain. She spun around just in time to parry another blow and instead was kicked in the stomach with a force that threw her back. She landed in a large heap the breath taken away from her and she gasped a little in shock. The same man who had kicked her charged her once again; surprisingly she found her reflex's taking over and was up in a second and spinning away from the reach of his sword only she didn't spin fast enough. The edge of his blade nipped her shoulder tearing into the shallow part of her skin. She felt a small tinge of pain and then that part of her shoulder turned numb. But Lily didn't have time to think on that, because that same annoying man was coming at her again, and now Lily was mad enough that she wasn't going to show him any mercy.

As he came charging Lily jumped and flipped over, landed just in time to send out her leg at blinding speed to kick her enemy in the back sending him sprawling face forward on the ground. But he was up in another second attacking her with a little more caution involved. He charged her once more, and Lily used the same move she had used on James earlier that day, she back flipped kicking the sword on her way, though he kept hold of it, then she was next to him slashing at his chest with one of her knives before he had the chance to move away. He backed away with a gasps for his breath, and Lily got the brief chance to see that Sirius, the nosy one was surrounded, and the odds were not looking good. She couldn't tango with this guy all day, and with a flick of her wrist she sent a knife flying, embedding it in his throat. He looked shocked as he sank to the ground, but he couldn't say anything. She ran by getting her knife first and then ran to help Sirius.

The first two guys didn't even know what was coming until it was two late. People later described it as if she was a dragon or tiger. She had been momentarily stalled on her way to help Sirius as a soldier blocked her path. Instead of fighting though she ran full on, kicked him and then used him as a prop. Using his body as a sort of ramp she propelled herself to great heights and threw herself in the center of the small group of men that had him surrounded. She landed in the middle true to her aim and whipped a sword from one mans hand and then began to spin in circles wildly both of the swords extended in her hands. She killed the majority of them, except the ones that were smart enough to move out of the way, and just like she had been taught she stopped spun once the other way and then opened her eyes again to find the world was not spinning wildly as it had the first few times she had tried that maneuver. The rest were killed by Sirius, since their attention had been on Lily. Out of breath, he nodded to her in his thanks, and then both ran away to go help others. It was clear by the signs of battle that they were winning; many of the southern soldiers were retreating though some still decided to fight till their lives were taken from them. She was standing in a small area that was clear all of the enemy having been killed when a sharp pain was suddenly apparent on her cheek. She touched it to find a long scrape; she looked behind her to find an arrow that was slanted at an angle.

Lily glanced up and around her when she caught sight of a lone archer in a tree aiming at the soldiers ofthe north. She was like the wind then in a matter of seconds. She flew by fighters, and soldiers who saw her and decided that she wasn't worth the effort. She reached the tree within a minute and using a soldier who was fighting a northern one she propelled herself up again like she had to save Sirius. As she did this, the northern soldier got the chance to kill him since he was briefly stunned at the sudden weight on his back. Lily grabbed a branch and swung herself up on top of it, doing this over and over until she was across from the archer on a different branch, his bow pointed at her.

"Don't move and I might spare you."

"I'd rather jump then be spared." She said calmly and a little out of breath.

"Then be my guest." He said and pointed to the drop between them.

"Fine I will." Only that wasn't all she had in her mind, just a little bit higher, reachable if she jumped, was a branch that was in between the two people. She jumped but instead of falling she grabbed the branch and before the archer could loose his arrow she had swung her body force, feet first straight into him causing him to fly out of the tree. And while this was happening in his fear of falling he let go of the bow, and the arrow which sailed and got Lily in the same arm that she had been grazed by the swordsman. It too was a graze but it still hurt like crazy. When she set herself back on the branch she looked down at it and grimaced, it wasn't that bad but she was loosing some major blood, but she didn't have time to mend it yet. The southern soldiers were still below her. She dropped herself below right on a southern soldier who had his sword raised and lowering about to kill a northern unarmed soldier. The soldier from the north looked up at her gratefully. She nodded towards him and ran to a cluster of southern soldiers.

She couldn't remember how long she had been fighting only that she was exhausted and wished that the southern soldier would either retreat or surrender. The blood loss was beginning to take its toll on her. She also didn't know how it happened but she found herself in front of a large gentleman who had two war axes in his hands and was glaring at her menacingly. And by the amount of blood that was dripping off of the two she was thinking that every other person to have found themselves facing him had lost. He came at her with a surprising agility for one so large and she jumped in kicked him in the face, and he backed up in a howl of fury. He then came at her in a different approach, with his axes moving in a sporadic pattern and advancing on her. She was tired and aggravated and not to mention a little grumpy, and she had had just about enough of this battle. In fact she had reached her limit a long time ago and was ready to get her wounds bandaged and sleep for however long she could, and maybe not wake up again.

She rolled sideways as he brought one of the axes down at her, she could feel the force of it as she did so, and picked up a sword from someone who had fallen and then stared at her opponent who had just gotten his axe from the ground. He smiled at her, but not the nice, how you doing kind of smile. No it was you're a challenge, and it's going to feel so satisfying when I kill you kind of smile. He came at her again in no particular patter but this time she was ready. She stuck her sword right in the middle of the sweeping motions, and like she had expected. Both of the axes were suddenly on top of it. Before he could yank it out of her hand her other sword was on top of them and they were suddenly yanked together. And you're thinking because he's bigger then he'll probably be able to overpower Lily. By no in a matter of a few seconds Lily let go of one of her swords and had a knife embedded in his throat. He fell to the ground a disbelieving look on his face. Lily took out her knife again and turned to find that they had an audience one of both northerners and southerners. She watched in amazement as the southerners dropped all of their weapons on their spot and some even ran away the one's that weren't in the middle and closer to their own encampment.

By the next thirty minutes every southerner that was within a specific region had been collected and either tied by rope or had chains on them. Lily was leaning against the same tree she had pushed the archer out of and was ripping part of her own tunic, one that was a tad bit too long for her, but now was just right. She had ripped it a good four or five inches wide and was attempting to tie it around her now aching shoulder, and wasn't having much luck on it. Suddenly someone was kneeling next to her, taking it in his hands and tying it for her. She looked up into the face of one of the guys she had helped, she didn't know his name.

"I never got an actual chance to say thank you for saving me."

"It was no problem." Her voice sounded croaked even to her, it was almost as dry as a dessert and she didn't have a water bottle on her or anything. She found a water bottle in front of her face and she looked into the same guys face. "Thanks." She said taking it and toke a large gulp. Before he could say anything else though someone called for his attention, so he nodded to her and went over to the man.

Lily glanced down at her shoulder to see that it was tied just tight enough to make sure it didn't begin to bleed but not enough to cut off the circulation. She took out a small handkerchief and then poured a small amount of the water on it; enough to get it soaked thoroughly and then wiped it carefully over her own small graze on the cheek. She also had one encompassing her left eye, but how she got it, she wasn't quite sure. She wiped off the dry blood, and then placed a clean part of it over it again to make sure it wasn't still bleeding. Thankfully it wasn't. She leaned back into the tree again until she realized that she had left her bow in the tree and needed to get it. When she peeled open her eyes she found a lot of people staring at her, and she had no reason as to why. She hadn't realized what she had looked liked on the battlefield, it was just something in the past to her. Something she never ever wanted to relive ever again. Once was enough for her. Sighing, she slowly stood up, though it was a bit of an effort, and walked to the tree where she had tossed her bow at the beginning of the battle. There were fewer people here but they still stared at her openly.

She ignored them and grabbed a low branch and swung herself up into the tree. Her bow was about halfway to the top and near the outer edges of the tree. She stood on the branch that it was stuck on, and was thankful for the fact that there was a branch right above it running parallel to it. She gripped it and slowly walked towards the outer edges, and snatched her bow. She turned around and noticed that just a little bit higher was a small alcove, a perfect spot that would fit her body very comfortable and that she wouldn't be able to fall out of easily. There were at least three reasons she considered staying there, one it was closer then the ground, two she didn't like the people staring at her down there, and three she just didn't want to make her way all the way down again because it was highly likely that she would slip and fall. That and she was more comfortable in a tree then she was on the ground in a tent. She scrambled up into it and hung her bow from a fair sized bump in a branch close to the alcove, the she positioned herself in the alcove and before she really got finished positioning herself she had fallen asleep.

* * *

James, Sirius and Remus stepped out into the day after having been stitched up from the medic on there small scratches. They looked at the field that they had fought on last night to see that the majority of the tall grass that had been there was now so trampled on it looked as if there wasn't any at all. Sirius breathed in with relief, everyone was glad that the battle was over, and a lot more who had seen Lily fight was glad that she was on their side, in a way. Although the three boys were the only ones who knew the true reason she was here. Sirius glanced around at the many men who were hanging around, and to the few that were still on the field and he found Lily nowhere. Shrugging and not waiting for the other or explaining to the others what he was doing he made his way to the tent that Frank and Lily shared. On hearing their footsteps, Frank who had been sitting outside looked up expectantly then the boys watched as his face fell a little, but smiled at them a little more pleasantly then what his face had just indicated.

"What can I do for you boys?" He said standing up to as they finished walking towards him.

"We were looking for Lily, she's here isn't she?" Sirius asked furrowing his brow in confusion.

A sudden mask of worry crossed over Franks face and the boys immediately knew that she wasn't here, or that Frank had heard nothing about her but he masked his worry with a normal face devoid of emotion, it was sort of what Lily could do. "I was hoping you might have seen her. She never came back to the tent after battle, unless she's in the medics' tent, I haven't seen her. She was alive right?" He asked not even bothering to hide his worry in his voice.

"She wasn't near the medics' tent, and I know for a fact that she was alive when the southerners surrendered, she was sort of the reason." Remus said a little worried too.

"Why don't you ask around the camp, and we'll ask the members in the field if they remember seeing her anywhere."

Frank nodded his head and then briskly began to trot away towards the camp members, actually towards the ones who were bandaged and showed signs of being in the battle, they would be the one's who probably knew where she was. James, Remus and Sirius headed towards the field and the people who were working out in it. They asked the first few people they came upon, and said they hadn't seen her, not since last night, and their imagination soon began to take away with all the possibilities of what could have happened. The most popular of the ideas was the one where a southern soldier had knocked her out cold and dragged her back to their camp. They reached a few solitary trees away from the forest and stopped a guy. They described Lily, though they really didn't have to considering that she was the only girl in the whole encampment.

"Sure I saw here, she climbed this here tree last night, never saw her come down though." And then the man wandered away. Remus took off for the camp to tell Frank and James and Sirius glanced at each other shrugging their shoulders, telling each other through it, he what did they have to lose.

They swung themselves up into the tree and began to slowly make their way up, about one corner of the way they heard Remus and Frank below them, but called up to them that they'd wait down here. They continued up until Sirius stopped and smiled then slapped James to get his attention then pointed up. James did so and also couldn't help but smile a little. There was Lily sleeping in a small alcove, a bow near her head, but she looked as if she had never slept so well before. They climbed up next to her and motioned at each other. Neither one wanted to be the one to wake her up in case of the way she reacted but someone had to do it. James finally lightly tapped her on the shoulder, and just as they had suspected she was up in a flash her knife at James's throat.

"Lily it's me, James and Sirius." James said quickly.

She blinked a few times as if her eye were out of focus then smiled kind of sheepish. "Sorry, it's a natural reaction out here. What are you doing up here?" She asked looking at them curiously.

"We were looking for you actually. Frank's worried sick about you since you never came back to the tent last night."

"I came up here to get my bow right after the battle, and saw this alcove. It looked so comfortable that I figured I'm about to fall asleep anyways so I might as well sleep somewhere that I'm comfortable with." She said yawning and slowly moving to a more easy position tosit up on.

"This is comfortable for you?" Sirius asked in disbelief.

"It's a tree so yeah. It was always easier to sleep in a tree then it ever was to sleep on the ground for me."

"Well come on, you still need to get stitched up at the medical tent." James said lightly touching her bandage on her arm, and then pointing to her two scrapes on her face.

Lily grabbed her bow and followed the boys down the tree where she was greeted by a crushing hug from Frank, who admitted freely that he had been so sick with worry that she had been killed. She apologized laughing at him a little at his antics but the boys could tell that she was sorry for worrying him. She was stitched up pretty fast by the medic and as she walked by she still got the stares. She finally asked James about it.

"Why are they staring at me?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"Lily you were the most amazing fighter on that field, you looked like a fierce dragon the way you fought and moved, and the way your eyes flashed when something got you really angry. You also killed the main commander, the guy with the two axes, he's been undefeated till now, and you were the reason the southerners surrendered. You're a legend in the making you know that." He said with a laugh.

"That's probably what they'll start calling you too, Lily the dragon." Sirius said as they made their way to the mess tent.

'Lily the dragon, I think I might be able to get used to that.' Lily thought though she wasn't sure if she was happy about it or not.

* * *

A/N- hey everyone here's the next chapter, I hope you like it, and that it meets your expectations, and that there was enough detail in the battle scenes that you could see it in your minds. Thanx to all of my reviewers.

-Flame Of Desire-  
-MagikMischiefMaker-  
-Dee Ann-  
-jmarit17-  
-firewalker32-  
-hypa4evr-  
-Dee Ann- (again :D)  
-soft N' fluffy-  
-mimi-  
-livingdead2010-  
-little mimi-  
-cec123-

Again thanx so much you guys are awesome!

_Maddie._


	6. goodbyes

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily slept great that night, just as good as she had the night before when she had slept in the tree. Well it also might have been for the reason that the small tree that Frank and she had hitched the horse up too had been her sleeping area that night. She stayed on the lowest branch and slept wonderfully. And as an added bonus when the sun came up she didn't wake up because of the leaves and branches that kept it out of her face. What did wake her up though was the three boys who called up to her, never mind the fact that she was exhausted, had just been in a battle, and been stitched up and sleep was the best thing for her. Oh no when they needed someone's attention they got it only because they annoyed the person to death. Finally no longer being able to ignore the two who were yelling the other she assumed was rolling his eyes. Remus, he seemed to be the kind of guy that didn't like to bother people. She peeled her eyes open blinked a few times at the light that now filled her vision, looked down and scowled at the two.

"This had better be good or I will so hurt you." She called down to them, making them smile at her. She grabbed the branch she was on and swung off of it landing in front of them.

"The commander would like to see you and Frank." Sirius said casually as if he hadn't just woken her up from her sleep.

"And did you tell Frank?"

"Uh, well now that you mention it no we came to you first." James said rubbing the back of his neck in a sheepish way.

"Did it ever occur to you that it might be better to tell him first before you actually tell me? Because if it was Frank that woke me up I couldn't hurt him but it would bother me very little to hurt the three of you." She said as she began to walk to the tent a short distance from her and knocked on a solid part of it to make sure Frank was awake.

Frank was as he showed them by flipping up the flap of the tent fast making the three boys jump and Lily smirk at that. "Good morning Lily, James, Sirius, Remus." He said nodding to the others as he gave Lily a hug. "What can I do for you?"

"Well the commander would like to see you and Lily." Remus spoke up as he stepped up next to the horse and began to stroke it. The horse loving this began to snuggle up to Remus.

"Right, will you tell him we'll be there in a few seconds, I just have one last thing to finish, and I'll need Lily for it."

The boys nodded their heads and waved goodbye as they headed back up to the commanders camp. Frank stepped back into the tent and grabbed something tying it to his belt. Lily realized it was just a small pouch. "Lily, I plan on leaving tomorrow, I plan on telling the commanders, but I wanted you to be the first one to know." Lily swallowed a small lump that had just grown in her throat.

"Where will you go?" She asked quietly.

"Well I'll go back to my home for a little while, as a break and then I intend on coming back through the towns and gathering more food for these boys and delivering it back to the camp. I wanted to know if you wanted to come, and have me drop you off at a different camp or if you wanted to stay at this camp."

Lily bit her lip, it was a really tough decision, she was trying to think on which one would be best to do. She sort of grown fond of the three boys, even though she wouldn't dare admit it out loud, but she also wasn't sure if she liked being stared at and maybe being called the dragon. "I don't know, can I tell you my answer tomorrow?"

"Of course Lily, I just wanted you to know. Now come along, we mustn't keep the commander waiting. Who knows what he plans on telling us." He smiled a fond smile and both of them made their way to the main tent, Lily getting those same uncomfortable stares as she walked by groups of soldiers. A few smiled at her, one she recognized as the one who had bound her arm yesterday. She smiled back at him and then tried to stare forward instead of around her.

When they entered the tent all the heads came and looked up at them. The commander finally looking up from his paperwork, smiled a smile that looked a little stressed, but warm at the same time. He beckoned them forward and motioned for two chairs that were set up on the other side of his desk. Frank sat down as if nothing was wrong, but Lily sat down and squirmed a little she was feeling so uncomfortable because even the men in here were staring at her. Sometimes she wondered why she was in this mission, but then she thought of home, and knew because she was doing it for the people she loved.

"I wanted to ask you two if there was anything I could do to make you more comfortable. Both of you have been so invaluable. I mean we've all heard of what you're daughter did at the battle, and you've brought us some much needed food. This camp would love to help you in some way." He clasped his hands together and placed them on his desk.

"It was nothing really; it was donations from the entire country. It was from people who wanted to show your support. I just happened to be the man who delivered it. I would also like to inform you that I'll be leaving tomorrow." He said the last part with a small rueful smile. He too had become fond of this soldiers camp.

"Oh I see, well thank you anyways and if you need anything till you leave please don't hesitate at all to ask anyone for it, and what about you? Is there anything that we can do for you? We owe you so much." He directed the last art of the statement at Lily who blinked a few times.

"No there's nothing I would like." She said bluntly. It still unnerved the men a little to hear her speak. She had an accent and yet they couldn't pinpoint what town she was fun. And for someone who could fight as she could it was unnerving to hear her have such calm and quiet voice.

"Very well, but like I said if there's anything you need feel free to ask for it." And then they talked a little more of a few things, and then Frank and Lily left.

"I'm going to go and start packing up, what about you, where will you be in case I need you?"

"I'm not sure I just figured I walk around maybe hang out at the mess hall, I'm pretty hungry at the current moment. I'll check in a few times how about that?" She said as they split ways.

"Sounds good."

Lily began to walk her way towards the mess hall when she saw it. The place that they were keeping the prisoners of war. They looked almost as worn as anyone else, and their stomachs were grumbling loudly, and yet the people that patrolled them didn't even act as if they had heard. Others were licking their lips trying to keep them wet, they weren't even given water. A small bubble of flame erupted inside of Lily and she felt white hot burning anger at all of the people around here. She walked up to the supply closet and stood there until the other man was finished placing his order, then she stepped up cutting in front of two people. He looked confused but she didn't give him a chance to say anything.

"I need a few canteens for water and about two weeks worth of trail food." She said raising her eyebrows as if asking if he had a problem with that request. He gulped a little at the weight of her piercing gaze and instead of arguing he walked back and got the things she asked for. "Thank you."

She went over to the well and filled the ten canteens she had scrounged up and then slung them over her shoulder. She then headed back to the area where they were keeping the prisoners. She had just made it to the small entrance when a hand gripped her shoulder. One of the guards had grabbed her. She stared down at it then back up at him, but he didn't get the picture.

"And just what do you think you're doing. These are the prisoners of war you are not allowed to go in there." He said still gripping her shoulder, the one that had been wounded by the way.

He didn't see it coming until it happened. He suddenly reeled back in pain, one of his fingers was swelling, and even though it wasn't broken it was wounded pretty badly. He looked up at her in shock.

"Obviously it is the prisoners of war camp, but at the current moment everyone in here is worse then they are. What do you plan on do killing them by starvation?" He was silent still in shock. "You can go and report me to the commander if you want, but I'm going to give these men drinks and food. It's because you people are despicable, almost to the point of inhuman."

And then she continued to walk past the other two guards who had come to see what the commotion was about. They just stared at her in surprise and shock but made no move to stop her. She stopped by the nearest man, and using some cups she had also scrounged up she poured him a glass of water and gave him some food. He smiled up at her a thankful look in his eyes; in fact she would have sworn she saw the making of tears in his eyes. She went around the entire small little camp and passed out food and cups, once going back to refill the canteens, never noticing the crowd that had gathered to watch her. James, Sirius, and Remus being in the group of watchers.

"Lily what are you doing?" James called out to her.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She replied as she knelt by another soldier and gave him food and water.

"I mean why are you helping them they're only prisoners of war." James said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He knew it was the wrong thing to say though because Lily stiffened and glared ice over at him, then calmly began to make her way over to him. He didn't see her fist coming until he was sprawled on the ground staring up at her his nose bleeding freely everywhere.

"One day James if you're ever captured, I hope that they treat you like dirt. It would be exactly what you deserve. I mean after all you would only be a prisoner of war." She said the last part in a mocking voice the one James had used. A lot of people looked away, a little ashamed. Remus who had disappeared earlier came back with more food and few more canteens and cups. Sirius who had stayed and watched the whole thing took some from him. Lily though was looking at everyone else.

"Show a little kindness to these people, and if they ever escape and go back and one day you're captured, they might just show you the same kindness that was shown to you. You would be surprised how an act of kindness could change your life." And then she turned away and walked back to the prisoners. Remus and Sirius following, James though was still staring at her back. He eventually got up, but instead of helping her walked back to the hospital wing to get his nose looked at.

Lily spent the rest of the evening feeding the people more people came and joined her over time, but none of them really talked to the prisoners like she did. People would pass by and see that she was in deep conversation with a few. Occasionally they heard laughter, and it was sometimes Lily and other times it was the men she was talking too. People noticed that there was something about her that relaxed people, and made them more comfortable. There was like a power an essence around her that no one else had. It was nice, and yet there was something that said she was different, foreign almost as if she was part of another race entirely. And in a way they were right.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the day she had punched James. She had spent the evening with Frank and had told him that she would be staying at this camp. She was fond of it, and she liked it. The commander was happy to let her stay. People called her Lily the Dragon or the Peaceful Dragon. She eventually got used to it. Every night for a week she went and talked with the prisoners of war until the week they were attacked and most of them were somehow set free. A few weren't able to be rescued and they were shipped off the next day to be trialed. Lily admitted to herself that in a way she sort of missed them. Lily only had a pack and she would sleep in a tree with it hanging on a branch next to her. The camp moved twice since Frank left, and they were in several skirmishes, nothing as major though until the breakout one.

James was still a little sullen at Lily and treated her with indifference. Remus and Sirius though, had also made a few friends with the prisoners too, talked to Lily a lot. Lily though had also made other friends in the group of soldiers. So she would sometimes hang out with them. It was a bright and early morning and they lined up for the announcements which were done once a week Lily had been included in this and already was comfortable with it. The commander came and talked of a few things and then he cleared his throat.

"I have some unfortunate news. We lost one of our captains over the night. So the fellow captains and commanders have come together to appoint another one in his stead. Your new commander will be Soldier James Potter."

James stood stock still in amazement and as soon as the announcements were over he was bombarded with congratulations. Even Lily congratulated him, though secretly she didn't think that he actually deserved it. He thanked them for their thanks, but he had to report to the commander to get the details of what he was supposed to do, so he excused himself from the group of people surrounding him and headed towards the command tent. He was in there a while but Lily had headed off towards her tree not really caring why. She did though watch him as he went and spoke to every single person that was now under his control. She thought a little better of him after that but still she was upset at the fact that he was holding a grudge this long just because she proved him wrong on a point she had felt strongly about.

It was a week later, a month since she had last seen her village and the people in it, and she had a strong sense of homesickness though she didn't let anyone see it. She missed Mindy and Janine, but the person she missed even more then she had missed Frank was Oglith. That's who she missed the most, her true father. It was the day they came in for announcements, James was still stand offish around her and she was getting annoyed and it sometimes took all of her restraint not to haul of and hit him, preferably out cold for a while. But she thankfully saw little of him as he was busy with his new work. She actually hung out with Sirius and Remus more then anything else. Anyways as they listened to the reports given it was clean up day, meaning the next day they would be leaving this spot. The day before they left a spot they cleaned all the traces that they had left as much as possible. As he dismissed their sections James approached her with a large bucket and handed it to her.

"Here I need you to clean up the large area that was the mess hall." And then he began to turn around, but Lily was in far too bad of a mood and she stood there amazed at what he had just said. Without a second thought she stepped forward and dumped the water over him ceasing the activities around her.

"Why don't you get off your fat arse and do it yourself!" that was one thing she had picked up with the army, it was the use of their cuss words. Some she found that she rather liked.

James spun around livid with anger and stood and inch from her his face becoming redder with every passing second. "I am a captain; you are a soldier you have to obey orders."

"Yes you are a captain and you're in charge of soldiers but I am a volunteer, you do not nor will I ever give you the pleasure of commanding me. So get that through your thick head that grows bigger with every single command you give."

"If you weren't a girl I would strike you down right where you stand."

"You wouldn't be able to even if I was a boy. If you opened up your eyes you'd realize that you're turning into the arse that I called you. And you've forgotten who you were. You forgot that you too used to be a lowly soldier." she pasued a second looking at him closley then continued."But maybe you haven't forgotten. Maybe you remember and every time you do you push it away because you think you're better then they are, when soldiers are the ones who do all the work. You realize what you've become and every time you see a soldier you're reminded of yourself and you hate that, because you hated yourself. Or am I just jumping to conclusions."

He glared at her and in a deadly voice he spoke in a whisper that only she could hear. "Don't you dare embarrass me again like this in front of my men."

"You're men; I thought they were your comrades. Isn't that what you said a few weeks ago when you were slumming around with us?" She replied back making him step back in startlementbut he didn't have any more words, so she brushed past him heading towards the main commander tent.

She knocked on a small part of the wood and waited until the main commander beckoned her in. "Sir I would like permission to have a month off, a week for traveling to my home, two to stay there, and one more to travel back to the camp." She said respectfully.

"Homesick Dragon?" that's was how everyone addressed her now. He smiled a small fond smile, a glaze looked past over his face as if he too was remembering his home.

"Yes sir, I am." She said smiling softly too.

"Of course you can, you are a volunteer, and you're not even required to come back. You can leave tomorrow I'll have a man of your choosing escort you a little ways. Not that I think you can't handle yourself, but it may be a little easier for whoever tries to mess with you." He said laughing a little as if he pictured it.

"Thank you sir, and don't worry I will be coming back, I've sort of grown fond of this camp, it's like a second kind of home." She said laughing too with the commander. He dismissed her saying she had better pack for tomorrow, and that he wished her a good and safe journey. She made it to her tree and swung up making sure she had everything when she heard a shout from below. She looked down to see Sirius and Remus; she dropped down and looked at them curiously.

"You're leaving?" Remus asked a sad look on his face.

"I'll only be gone for a month; I plan on going home to my genji tribe and spending a few weeks there. I miss it. By the way Sirius I am supposed to have an escort. I would like it to be you, since you know I live in the forest." She looked over at him hopefully and saw him grin wide.

"Of course I will Lily." And then he picked her up in a bone crushing hug. Which she gladly returned a tear or two beginning to sting at the tip of her eyes. Remus hugged her next, and then after talking a little while they split, Lily would need to be getting some more sleep.

She woke with the dawn as she usually did and slowly sat up stretching carefully. She then grabbed her pack and slid down a few branched eventually dropping to the ground on her feet. A lot of people were up and about apparently word had gotten out that she was leaving, and Lily of course suspected who had spread the word. But in a way she didn't mind, it just showed her how liked she was. She spoke to a few, ones she had gotten to know over the last moth and a half. She stood on the edge of their camp Sirius, and she eventually decided Remus too, so he had a small pack set out on their way. But before they had completely gone out of the soldier's eye sight they turned around and waved goodbye.

They decided to walk through one town, so in case it was asked if they ever passed through one they could answer yes and then in between that city and the next she would slip into the forest and make her way to her home through that path. She could run as fast as she possibly wanted to in the forest. She stopped though to buy a few tings, some medicine and herbs a whole package that contained different ones to bring back home. She also bought a doll for Mindy and a book for Janine who liked to read. And to Oglith, she brought home a special fletching of arrows that had the feathers of eagles on them. When they were between the two cities Remus and Sirius looked both ways while Lily checked the ground for vibration then she turned around and gave each of them a hug which they returned. And then she slipped in and disappeared without a sign into the forest, and was gone just like the wind leaving a slightly creeped out Remus and Sirius.

* * *

A/N- hey sorry it took me so long to get the chapter up. Don't worry about James he'll be acting nice in the upcoming chapters. I want to thank all of my reviewers soooo much you all are completely awesome and the only reason I continue to keep moving and actually updating my stories.

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Again thanx so much, and hope you like the chapter.  
_Maddie_.  



	7. two diffrent homes

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily breathed in the deep aroma of the forest, filled her lungs with the smell she had grown up with and loved. It was cooler in the forest and only small rays of sunlight filtered through the trees but she knew it and loved it. She walked quickly through the forest, not actually jogging but it was a long and even stride, she wanted to get to her home as quickly as she could so she could see her friends, and Mindy and Oglith the most. In fact she wanted to see Oglith more then anything else, she was just remembering how much she missed him, and how much at ease and at home he made her feel. Smiling at the thought of seeing them she broke out into a jog.

It did take a week or so to reach her home, she wore her necklace out in case any of the other genji people saw her which some did. She even stayed in a village one night instead of somewhere on the ground, and although they asked her to stay she politely refused too eager to get home. She slowed down considerably when she reached the village border, almost nervous of the reactions. She might have been a fearless warrior when it came to fighting, but when she actually came to not being in a battle she could be very self conscious. She took her first step into the village and breathed in the familiar aromas that flooded towards her as if they themselves were greeting her.

She had only taken a good look around when she heard her voice come calling out, actually it was a high pitch scream. She turned around just in time to catch Mindy, who threw herself at Lily a smile of happiness all over her face. Lily laughed as she hugged the girl tight and Mindy returned the favor. She finally set her down and took a good look at her. She had grown taller not quite as tall as Lily but she was getting there.

"Someone's had a growth spurt." She said laughing and Mindy laughed along while beaming with happiness. Mindy had always been a little self conscious about being small for her age.

"Yeah I'm almost as tall as you are." She said proudly and then grabbed her arm and began to drag her to Oglith's hut. "You could tell Oglith missed you and he doesn't have sentry duty today you should go see him." And then without waiting for an answer she shoved Lily towards the flap, while Lily walked there she realized that Mindy had grown up a little.

She carefully opened the flap and looked around and there was Oglith sitting down at his table writing something on a piece of leaf, as they always did. He looked up at the flap and when he saw Lily he dropped his writing tools stood up and looked at her.

"So you've finally come back, it is about time." And then he walked up and gripped Lily in a large hug. Oglith had always been one for few words, but he and Lily understood each other good enough. She hugged him hard and smiled as she felt a tear fall down on her shoulder and one drip from her own face.

When they finally pulled away they were both smiling. "It's not permanent though, I go back in two weeks, because it took me a week to get here, and it'll take me another week to reach the camp."

"The camp?"

Lily looked down. "Yeah there were a few complications along the way, I don't think I'm doing exactly as I was expected to do." She said and grimaced.

"Well as long as you are safe I don't care. Come I'll take you to the elders' tent."

Lily nodded and then with Oglith she quickly dropped off at her hut and deposited her bags and then walked to the elder tents. She waved to several people along the way and then when they were three fourths of the way there, so close and about thirty minutes after they had left their hut Lily watched as a man walked out of one tent. He looked up and around trying to figure out who was causing all the emotion, when he caught view of Lily he smiled rushed up and picked her up and a swinging hug making Lily laugh.

"Janine put me down!" She said laughing in spite of her attempt not too.

"And you weren't even going to come and see me were you." He teased.

Lily only rolled her eyes. "Well I'm glad you've healed very well."

He smiled and flexed his muscles making her hit him in playfulness. They talked a few more minutes then split ways since Lily still had to go and talk to the elders. She entered behind Oglith and bowed low to the elders. They looked at her and smiled.

"Lily it is good to see you."

"It's good to be back, but I can only stay for two weeks."

Many of them looked at her curiously. They ordered Oglith to close the flap, which told the others not to disturb them then beckoned for both of them to sit down and make themselves comfortable. Once that was done they continued to look at her curiously, and Lily almost felt like squirming like a child who had been caught doing somethingshe shouldn't have.

"Now Lily why can you only stay for only two weeks, has something happened?"

"Well things haven't exactly gone as they probably should have or the way you would have liked them to gone. I met up with Frank from another one of the Genji village. He helped me get to the front, and the first night we were there, there was a battle I got caught up in the middle of it. I've been helping the soldiers from the north ever since then, I can't help it though, and I have friends among them."

"I see." They said finally and then quietly talked amongst themselves for a moment. "This is grave news. We had hoped not to get you involved so you could observe both sides. But I suppose even if we told you not to go back you would wouldn't you."

"I would." She said knowing it was true she had friends there as she had already told them, and she wouldn't abandon them.

"Very well, then tell what has passed, and then get some rest you're probably tired."

Lily told them of the majority of the things some of the people she had gotten to know, that war wasn't a pretty thing and then finally she and Oglith were free to go. Once they were out of the tent Lily looked around to see that night was falling on them already and they had been in there for a good while. She breathed in the smells of the forest she just couldn't seem to get enough of them. Oglith turned towards her and smiled.

"Come, I can tell you're tired, we'll catch up on things tomorrow." Oglith said and with a brief kiss on her forehead they went to their separate huts and Lily immediately went to her bed and sighed in relief and happiness as she drifted in to sleep.

Lily loved the next two weeks that passed her by, Mindy though was now a little too tall to start hiding in places in her hut so she entered quietly and began to make breakfast each morning, for which Lily was a little thankful the first few days. She was so tired with all the walking to get here and the waking up extra early to make sure she made it to the camp that she was almost too tired to make her own breakfast. Mindy admitted to the probing of Lily that she had only gotten into five fights while Lily was away, and it also seemed that she was finally beginning to notice the boys a little more.

And at the request of both Janine and Mindy she told some stories of the front, she even fessed up that they called her the Dragon now because of the weird way she fought on the battlefield. She spent a lot of that time too with Oglith catching up on things or just sitting and not talking, either way she liked the time she spent with him. She talked to the elders about most of her adventures as they called them, she even told her point of view on why the war was being fought, and she agreed that a peaceful way to settle it would have more appropriate. She went back on sentry duty and trained with other people in the morning making sure she was up to all the standards, though she used them almost once a month she was doing very good they thought.

As the second week began to come to end Lily was filled with mixed emotions. She was sad that she would have to start moving again, she had never felt such at peace as she had when she was here the past two weeks but at the same time she was a little eager to continue moving. Not because she liked the fighting, no but she had grown to treasure the friendships she had made among the soldiers, especially those of Remus, Sirius and even James, though that last two weeks or so she had wanted to smack him. She missed them, Sirius's odd humor, and Remus's wise outlook on life, and James who took the good with the bad and tried to look positive on everything he saw. As the last day before she had to set out began to go towards sunset, Lily sighed and went back into her hut and finished the last of her packing.

Mindy, Janine, and Oglith came a few minutes later and they spent the last of the evening together talking, laughing, and sometimes just sitting there in a reflective silence. She had trouble getting to sleep that night though she eventually did and when she woke up with the calling of the dawn, a few of the villagers had lined the streets to bid her goodbye again. Lily hugged Oglith long and hard, followed by Mindy and then Janine, and then with a last wave to the rest of the village she braced her shoulders and walked back the way she came deciding to go through the forest instead of the road the first time she had come. One because she knew Frank wouldn't be coming this time to save her from the stares she would receive, and the other reason was because she felt much more safer and a lot more happier when she was under the trees with only a few streams of the sun filtering through the leaves.

She saw a lot of the Genji people and stopped to chat sometimes, but she mostly went without stopping only smiling or waving then continuing on with her trek. On her way back to the camp she tried to figure out where the camp would probably be. If they were still traveling at the rate they had traveled three weeks ago she was pretty sure where she would meet up with them. She gave a little leeway either way. It was a relief to sleep under the trees because sometimes she couldn't find one when she was traveling with the soldiers so she had to sleep in the middle of a field, and it had always felt a little weird. The only one's who knew her love for the trees and why, was Remus Sirius and James, well and Frank but that was because he too was a friend of the Genji.

The last day of her traveling in the forest came and she looked around, she wasn't in any sight of a village but still as the genji had taught her she closed her eyes emptied her mind and placed her hands on the ground to see if she could feel any vibrations. She didn't and cautiously as if she was an animal waiting for the hidden hawk to come and swoop down on her she eased out of the trees and then began to follow the trail of the carriage wheels that had left an indentation in the ground. She hadn't expected to catch up to them she found a tree just as the sun was beginning to set and climbed up in it settling down for a good nights sleep and woke as usual with the dawn.

Lily slid out of the tree and after a quick breakfast she continued on her trek and although she hadn't expected to make it to the camp today she was surprised to see that the medical wagons were small dots on the horizon shortly after noon. They must have come up to troubles while moving because she hadn't expected to come up to them at least until tomorrow at the earliest. She stepped up her pace a little and smiling at the thought of seeing some of the people. She made it too a few hours before sunset. People looked up from their work as they heard her approach and broke into grins that lit up their whole faces many waved others actually came and gave her a slap on the back.

She had reached the mess tent of the area being stopped no less then ten times she saw the familiar heads of three boys, two of whom looked up at the noise and noticing Lily bolted out of their seats. Sirius was the first to reach her he grabbed her in a large bear hug and swung her around making Lily laugh in joy. She hugged Sirius back and after he finally let her go Remus gave Lily a large hug too. James stood off looking a little awkward neither had forgotten what had happened when Lily had first left. She approached him and then before he could say anything she gave him a hug which he gladly returned.

"It's good to see you James."

"You too, can we talk later?"

"Sure, now I need to go and talk to the commander in charge to tell him I'm back." She said smiling largely and then walked up to the head camp getting stopped a few more times. When she entered the tent the Commander looked up slightly annoyed at being interrupted and then when he saw Lily he grinned.

"I wasn't sure that you would come back, I'm glad." He said getting up and coming and gripping her hands in wordless thanks. "I'm also glad to see you're looking a lot better, it seems your home did you something good for you."

"Thanks, and it's was good to go home and see my family and friends, but in a way it's good to be back here among the soldiers and my friends."

"Well I have you're tent here, and you can set it up anywhere you want. I really am glad that you're back." And then with a few more words they parted different ways.

When Lily looked around the camp she noticed a tree a few feet away from the medical area. She walked there and smiling and talking to people and when she reached the tree she saw James was already there sitting on the ground leaning against the tree with his eyes closed.

"So how did you know I was going to be here?" She asked as she came up to him.

James opened his eyes and looked up at Lily smiling slightly. "Simple, I knew that you would sleep in this tree then you would on the ground, since there actually was a tree."

"How very observant of you." She said and then she lugged down next to him. There was silence between them and just as James was about to open him mouth to say something she went ahead and spoke. "I'm sorry!"

"About what?"

"That day I left when I talked down to you. I often let my temper get the better of me and although the things I sometimes say are true I shouldn't say them. It's one of my faults."

"Actually what you said it opened my mind a little, thank-you."

They were silent a few more moments when Lily finally spoke again. "You know I've heard people whisper all over the camp that I'm perfect, but you know it's not true. I hide my fears it was something taught to me, I have a lot of fears a lot of faults. I mean sure I do a lot of things different but then I've had a different upbringing then most of you people."

"Oh and what is one of your fears." James said joking not actually expecting her to answer.

"Well if you promise not to tell I'm scared of snakes."

"Snakes!" he said incredulously.

"Yes, the genji people they once a year have a snake hunting party, the first time I saw one I screamed, I haven't been able to do that celebration since I was first allowed to. They made fun of me for weeks, and I get to hear it all over again when that time of year comes around."

"Wow, I mean even I get a little cautious around the ones that you know are poisonous but all snakes aren't so bad." He said and when he watched Lily grimace at him he laughed. "Your secret's safe with me!"

"Good, now I'm beat and going to go to sleep, see you in the morning James." And then with another hug she slowly climbed and found a comfortable spot in the tree and drifted off to sleep by the familiar sounds of the rest of the camp going to sleep also.

* * *

A/N- Hello everyone, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up but I hope you like it. I'm sorry also if it seems a little rushed, but I wanted to get back to the camp scene. And for the last apology, sorry if it's a little shorter then the others. Thanx to all of my reviewers!

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Again thanx so much, and from now on I'll try not to make Lily seem too perfect! Bye Bye!  
_Maddie._


	8. tensions rising

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily woke up to the sun just streaming over the horizon and the loud clamor of the men as they began their day in their normal routine. Lily sighed and reluctantly sat up being so comfortable she didn't really want to get up. She combed out the few tangles in her hair and then dropping her pack to the ground before her she dropped to the ground with only a small cloud of dust to alert the others since she hadn't made a sound. She walked up to the mess hall and looked around to see only Remus of the normal three, but then he usually was the only one up when she also got up, both were morning people. She sat down next to him and smiled.

"Good morning Remus and how did you sleep?"

"Good morning Lily, I slept great, and how about you?"

"Wonderful." She said smiling again and began to eat the breakfast that was placed in front of her. "The camp hasn't changed that much, I'm kind of glad. It's nice to come back to something familiar."

"Yeah it can be. How was your village?"

"They're doing really good, I got to see Oglith, and Mindy, and Janine. I was really glad to see Janine, he was sick the last time I saw him he was just getting over it."

"Oh yeah he was the one that you got the medicine from us for right?"

"Yeah and Mindy was the girl that would sneak into my room every morning, but she's grown up so much, she's almost as tall as me."

"Really how old is she?"

"Let's see she's about ten I guess, but she's still a little small for her age."

"Small for her age?" Remus asked incredulous. Lily was about 5'6 and if the girl was only ten!

"Well yeah, the genji people they grow a lot faster and a lot taller then us. I think the smallest one after full growth is about I think seven feet. I'm a midget in their eyes, but they have a lot of uses for us humans. They can't go in the villages, so they get the few people who help out the genji and send them to the villages for the medicine."

"So are you going to ever tell us why they live in the forests?" Remus asked quietly.

"I might one day, but I still think that you guys would have hard time accepting it. I'll tell you one secret though, if you ever see one that has a necklace like this…" and at this she took out her carved wooden star "…you'll know that they are friends of the genji. They give these out and if they need help you might want to because they don't like to send the humans out unless it's very important."

"Okay then I'll definitely keep an eye out for those necklaces." Remus said and might have said more if Sirius hadn't burst into the conversation just then.

"You two started to eat without me, I'm crushed, hurt, the wound in my heart shall never be able to heal from this colossal betrayal that you have done!" Sirius said his hand draped dramatically over his face as if he was feeling faint.

"Well it shouldn't come as that big of a surprise Sirius, I mean me and Remus ate before you came almost everyday before I came back. Did you expect that to change?" Lily asked her eyebrows raised in mock amazement. Sirius only glared at her as he sat down across from the two and Lily looked around a little confused. "Where's James?"

"Oh all the commanders, captains, all the high ranking officials have a meeting every morning he'll be down in a few minutes from it." Remus said pointing to a tent on a hill where you could see a cluster of men there.

"Hey Lily whatever you said to James I want to say thank you." Sirius said a serious look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean after whatever you said to him he really started to think on what he acted like the past week or so. He's not like that anymore; in fact he's like one of the most favorite of the superiors. However, I on the other hand am a much smarter man and know not to do anything that would get me on the other side of your anger!" Sirius said leaning as far back as he could without falling off the bench the usual spark back in his eyes.

Lily only rolled her eyes as she saw the officers finally breaking up and making their way to wherever they wanted or had to go. James came back and sat down next to Sirius sighing and rubbing his neck as if it was bothering him. He looked pretty tired but no one else seemed to notice or make a comment. So Lily decided that it must not be that important and if it had ben they would have told her sooner then this.

Lily got back into the habit of a soldiers life fairly quickly and easier then others would have though possible. She and some of the other soldiers took to practicing every morning, and Lily started to show Sirius, Remus, and James some more of the moves she was taught in her hometown village. They appreciated it and told her so as much as they could muster, though she would always dismiss their thanks and go on drilling them, though they sometimes got sick of it they soon found that as they practiced it became easier and easier with each passing day.

With fewer attacks every week the only way to stay in shape was with more drills and practice and soon the tempers of some of the soldiers began to flay thin and it was showing. Explosions over simple things such as accidentally bumping to each other led to full out fights and there was nothing anyone could do about it. It seemed that the south had drawn away form the battle at a momentary retreat to get more soldiers and take a break since winter was soon to come. It also meant that the northern army would probably go on break too but for the moment they would stay alert until the snow came and made sure no one could pass into the north.

Lily was walking down the street towards a small field where she planned to relax and read a book she had picked up form one of the other soldiers when she heard the beginning of an argument that usually ended up as a fight. She walked towards it to see it was between a guy names Clarke, and the other one of the three cooks Inurn. Just as Inurn was about to throw a punch Lily stepped in and dragged him back blocking the swing he threw before he caught sight of Lily's face. They immediately looked guilty.

"Now men, you don't want to start something like this do you? I mean Clarke if you're going to pick a fight do it with someone other then a cook otherwise he'll purposefully burn your food and it's already bad enough!" She said smiling at the two and people around them, even those two chuckled a small knot of the tension gone from the area. "I know tensions are high especially with the extra drills they're giving us but try to be a little more patient for a day or two. I'll talk to James, and maybe we can come up with something."

Both nodded their heads and apologized to each other, and Lily, her book completely forgotten, immediately went to seek out James. He, Sirius and Remus were in a field going over a few sword drills Lily had taught them.

"Hey we need to talk!" She said the moment she was in their hearing range they looked up startled only a little since they hadn't heard her. "The men are on the edge, I just broke up a fight that involved Inurn, and you know that he is one of the most patient men you could ever hope to meet."

"Well what do you want us to do?" Sirius asked. "I mean what can we do?"

"We can organize something that's enjoyable that will work us out but will let some of the men release their tension. They can't do drills all day, and even when they have free time it's repairing their goods. It's driving them insane. I think I bought two days but even me, as grand and great as I am…" This got a roll of eyes from the guys, they had found Lily having a good sense of humor. "…can not hold them from fighting much longer."

"Well what did you have in mind? If we come up with a good idea I bet the commander would agree." James said slowly.

"Why not a tournament?" Remus suddenly spoke up with the thinking look on his face. "We can have races, contests to see who's the best, like archery, you know things like that. We could come up with prizes, medal, and we could have the cooks cook something special for the supper."

Lily smiled a bright smile and gave Remus a large hug. "It's perfect, we'd need a few days to prepare for everything and give a warning to the cooks but I think it would be an amazing and cool thing. Well what about it?" She asked turning towards James.

"I'll go talk to the commander, better yet why don't you come and talk with me Lily you seem to have this charm where no one can say no to you." James said sarcastically and Lily taking up the habit the Mindy used to use on her she stuck her tongue out at him much to the amusement of the three but never the less she went with him.

The commander was thankfully unoccupied and they were able to see him immediately. They launched into the obvious that the tensions in the camp were high and fights were occurring more and more everyday. Then they presented their solution to the commander. He heard them out nodding occasionally but not interrupting. When they finished they looked at him James's face not showing anything he wanted, but Lily not caring who saw, let the Hope and the determination to follow this through shine through her eyes. He already knew that if he didn't agree she would go on by herself and do it alone. Better to give his permission anyways, besides it would more then likely only do good.

"Very well you have my authorization, when did you plan on having it?"

"In a week or so!" Lily said answering before James could even open his mouth.

"Okay then I leave everything up to the four of you since I know Sirius and Remus are in on this also." And then they left Lily dancing in the street with excitement. It was lunch by now and she saw that the men had gathered in the mess hall and then before James could stop her she ran and jumped on the nearest table.

"Gentlemen!" Lily yelled out in a surprisingly loud voice which immediately caught everyone's attention. "You're in luck in a Week's time you will find yourself in your wildest dreams of happiness." Many of the soldiers raised their eyebrows in curiosity. "In a weeks time you will be enjoying a festival! That's right racing, who's the best at whatever you can think of, special prizes for the winners, and a very special dinner, by the way cooks I'm gonna need you to think on what you're going to want to cook. So you guys better prepare, because I'm gonna kick all of you guys butts!" And then before anyone could react she sat walked down the length of the table dropped down and sat down next to Sirius and Remus. Then all of a sudden a large outburst happened and everyone was talking of the upcoming festival. You could tell that they were all excited and Lilly was suddenly proud of herself.

James came down and sat down next to her shaking his head. "I had hoped to warn the cooks before we told all the men, but then I should have known better!" He said sighing heavily and Lily looked at him.

"Of course you should have known better." And then she began to eat leaving a laughing Sirius and Remus to laugh at James.

Preparations for the festival began the next day, the soldiers began to want more training to make sure they were in the best of shape for the games. Lily went to the forger they had and asked him to make some medals which with her help were done in the first two days. She also talked to the cooks apologizing for not giving them all that much time before she dumped this on them. They said they didn't mind and began to tell her all the things they couldn't wait to cook. They listed off things that they only had on special occasions and told her that this was a very special occasion, because all the tension was completely gone and the soldiers were back to shoving each other playfully.

Remus and Sirius helped to come up with when everything was going to occur. Surprisingly Sirius was really good at scheduling which surprised Lily to no end. It was amazing of the change that occurred, and James helped wherever he could. At the end of the day the four of them would get together and just hang not bothering to practice anymore since they were exhausted by the things they did through the day. They would often sit in the middle of the field with a drink and just talk or sometimes at Lily's promptings saying that it wasn't done enough they would stare into the stars and point out things they saw.

The day before the festival dawned bright and beautiful and Lily and the others were working hard when Lily looked up from her work. She had been near the edge of the camp getting tired of the noise of the men practicing but she felt as if something was coming closer. It wasn't a group of me she knew that but it sounded like a cart. She slowly stood up but couldn't see anything down the road and finally getting fed up she climbed a tree and looked as far as she could see shading her eyes to help. What she saw made her smile largely. She jumped out of the tree so fast that others were surprised she didn't hurt herself or twist a leg, and what surprised them even more is that she tore down the streets running leaving no explanation behind. Someone who saw her do this mentioned this to the three who immediately grabbed their weapons and followed at a trot knowing that if something was wrong Lily was more then capable of taking care of herself.

Lily meanwhile watched as the carriage she had sensed drew closer and the man sitting on the drivers seat looked up and smiled a large and open smile as he saw Lily come running towards him. He brought the horse to a halt and got down just in time as Lily launched herself at him.

"FRANK!"

He laughed long and hard as she gave him a large hug. "Lily, it's good to see you, you sure do have a good pair of eyes on you girl." He said as they climbed up into his wagon that was once again filled with a large pile of food.

"I know, I climbed the tree and saw you! You came just in time too, we're going to have a festival tomorrow so any extra food would be very welcome!"

"Well you're in luck too, the last town I passed had a good baker who donated a whole box full of pies!"

"Sounds delicious!"

"Yeah when she gave them to me I was so tempted to eat one of them, but I held off because it wouldn't have been nice to have eat them."

"Not that anyone would know though." She said teasingly as he smiled a knowing smile too. "But that's okay you can have come tomorrow at the festival."

It was then that the three showed up on the street and when they realized who it was they smiled too. "Hello Frank." They called out and Lily and Frank scooted over to give them some room as they also climbed up into the cart thought it was a tight squeeze.

"Hello boys, I'm glad to see you've been keeping out of trouble." He said a spark in his eyes as if he clearly didn't believe the words he didn't say and they knew it too.

"Of course we've been keeping out of trouble!" Sirius said, and then that's when Remus noticed the necklace that he was wearing and recognized it as the same one that Lily had around her neck.

"I like your necklace." He said when the other two boys weren't paying attention.

Frank looked up a little stunned until he saw the knowing glance that Lily and Remus shared and then smiled. "Yeah it's a very special gift to me." And then they entered the camp with enthusiastic cheers at the arrival of more food and happy looking soldiers everywhere. Things were beginning to look up!

* * *

A/N- Hey guys I hope you liked this chapter and the next chapter will have the festival in detail. Thanx to all of my reviewers you guys are great and very patient for which I am eternally thankful!

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_Maddie! _  



	9. the Festival and Snow

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

The day of the fair dawned with a slight breeze and a few clouds slowly drifting over the sky. Lily who was sleeping in a tree smiled as the sun hit her face warming it. She slowly got up and stretched then climbed down carefully since Frank had set up his tent below the tree. She slipped by quietly and went to the mess hall. The men were beginning to stir and as they emerged from their tents smiles were pasted on their faces as they stretched. They were eager for the races and contests to begin.

As usual Remus was there sitting at the table just beginning to eat. Lily sat down opposite and with a cheerful exchange of good morning they began to eat in a compatible silence. They had been eating a while when Frank came up and sat down next to lily, people waving to him on the way there. He smiled at Lily who smiled back.

"I see you're still an early riser." He had directed it towards both of them.

"What can I say?" Remus and Lily said at the same time and smiled at each other leaving Frank to shake his head in silent amusement.

Sirius and James showed up a few minutes after they had finished their food and smiled at them, but decided on eating rather then talking but everyone noticed that the men were a lot more energized, they couldn't wait for the festivities begin.

As the sun rose into the air higher and higher the festivities finally began. Lily stood up on a table and stared down at them. "Gentlemen! Are you ready for the festivities to begin!"

A loud roar filled the air in agreement and Lily smiled. "Then let's go!" They agreed, the cooks came out with snacks and drinks and everyone headed off towards different areas where different competitions were being held.

Lily walked over towards the archery contest, but she would only be watching. Truth be told, she was as laid back as you could be, she didn't want to do any competitions. The only competition she was doing would be the Race competition. She watched as the men laughing and joking, tried to throw off the other competitors. Sometimes this would succeed other times it didn't. The tried to get Lily to join in, but she shook her head and just laughed. She spent most of the day in fact walking around with Frank, mostly talking.

"Has your wife come back from what she was doing?" Lily asked as they walked towards the knife throwing contest.

"No, she came down for a week then went back up there. She's very dedicated, and I'll be going up there to visit her for a month or so when I get back there!"

"That's nice." Lily said smiling.

"How about you have you made it home since we parted?"

"Yeah, I got so angry at James, and the whole soldiers life that I needed a good douse of home. I went there for two weeks. It took me a week to get there, and a week to get home, but it was worth every second. It was awesome being home again."

"And yet you came back here?"

"Yeah, as much as I love my home, I have too many friends here. That and I am genuinely curious as to how this war will end up. I feel a part of it, like if I left I'd be a traitor somehow."

"Well that's just your way Lily, that's just your way!" His voice had an affectionate tone in it and Lily couldn't help but smile and hug him, which he gladly returned.

They watched several more competitions, making bets with each other. Finally worn out and ready for food everyone made their way to the mess area. The three boys made their way over to Lily and Frank, all of them sweating and looking thoroughly content. All of them held a ribbon having won at least one competition. They looked at Lily a little confused for a second.

"Hey, how come you don't have any ribbons? I was sure that you would at least have two as good as you are." Sirius said his mouth full, and some of it falling out. Lily only shook her head at this although she thought she saw Frank look a little queasy.

"I'm only entering the race late this evening. That way when I beat everyone I'll know that if we ever have to retreat, and people are coming after us I won't be the one caught." She said smiling at the looks on their faces. Frank next to her snorted and coughed at the same time.

They decided not to comment on this though instead they concentrated on eating though they did throw her a few side long glances. They on the other hand had signed up for everything and were very busy the next few hours. Frank and Lily walked around, talking sometimes with different groups and watching the contests that were the closest. Some of the men were showing their ribbons with a pride that Lily had to smile at, this had been the best idea. Finally the time for the grand race arrived. Lily left Frank and walked to the starting area, and began to stretch. Sirius, James and Remus came up also going to be in the competition.

Finally they took their places in the long line of people, and the commander handed a cloth to Frank. Frank stood to the side and held it up for all of them to see, then in a quick motion he brought it down, and the race began. Lily was used to running much more then anyone else. They were used to serious practicing of their arms, and the constant marching built up their legs, but they weren't as used to running. She won, and waited for the others to finish as they came after her. Some were breathing fairly well, others were gasping for breath by the end. Most of those though were the ones that had been in several competitions.

And finally supper came with the grand dessert of the pies Frank had brought with him yesterday. Every one ate to their hearts content, till not even a single pie was left over for the other days. With no more competitions going on bonfires were built and the soldiers lounged around them, talking about the day in satisfied voices. Most of the men fell asleep around the fires not even making it to their tents. Lily though made it to her tree, with Frank camped underneath it. She slept well, her ribbon attached to her pack as a silent reminder that everyone needs a little bit of fun!

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Frank stayed for a week this time and then he left to go home again. Lily and the boys saw him off, each giving him a hug before he climbed up into the wagon and disappeared into the sunrise. Things returned back into the normal routines, with a few skirmishes happening. The commanders seemed to have learned a lesson though and didn't push the soldiers as hard as they had been. They were given plenty of time to themselves and to relax. Lily spent a lot of time teaching the marauders some of the things she had been taught. She found she enjoyed it more then she could have imagined.

Remus meanwhile hade been constantly asking Lily, over and over whether she told him no or not, why the Genji lived in the forest and how they weren't considered dark creatures. James and Sirius after hearing him ask every once in a while also took to asking her too, and finally having had enough of their pestering she decided to tell them after practice. With the last swing of their blades they all settled on the ground for a breather. Remus on time opened his mouth to ask the question, but Lily held up her hand.

"Fine I'll tell you, but you can't interrupt or argue this is the way it happened."

"We won't interrupt, we promise!" Remus said when Lily looked at them long and hard.

"Okay!" She said then took a deep breathe and launched into her story. "Long ago spirits roamed the earth, as we do now. Along with the spirits there were two different races, the humans, and the genji. They were fairly peaceful people, but Humans were more curious then the Genji, just as the Genji had a love for things that grew more then humans. One day a group of humans came upon a place where spirits dwelled. I'm not sure what they did, but it was not a good thing. They didn't want the wrath of the spirits to come down on them, so they blamed it on the genji people.

"The spirits, consumed with their fury banished the people to the forests and the other forbidden places. The humans took this time to spread manipulative rumors that they were evil, dark creatures, and these places were forbidden. The spirits though, when they found the truth felt a great sadness; they could do nothing though since the damage had already been done. The genji can stray from the forests, but they would be killed on sight. Humans fear that which they can't understand. That is why there are no dark creatures, or forbidden places. There are only the lies that cover the truth."

There was a brief silence now as the boys absorbed what they had just been told. It was a lot to take in that was for sure, and it was hard to grasp the context. Lily stood up and walked away figuring they would need a little time to get this information. It did make a little since now that they did think about it. Lily slipped up into her tree and took out a book and began to read, letting them have their time. They would believe it or not, the choice was there, at least now she would get some peace and quiet and not have them constantly asking her to talk about the history.

She didn't see them later that day either, because she ended up falling asleep and missing supper. But the next morning they sat down as usual and began to eat with out any comments until Remus spoke up; she figured it would be him since he was the one that loved to ask questions.

"So are they ever going to come out, and explain all this?"

"I don't think so. With the war going on for a while, and the constant tensions before that it was never a good time. There would be so much fear, they would have been killed. They have to wait till the world is ready, and better to accept the knowledge."

There was brief silence as they thought about it and nodded their heads in agreement. "So you guys believe me?"

"Well you've never given us any reason to doubt you, sometimes you are painfully truthful!" James said smiling and Lily had to smile in return.

"Yeah, and it makes a little of sense." Sirius said shrugging his shoulders and began to eat without another thought.

Over the next week they would occasionally ask a question when no one else was in ear shot, and Lily felt somewhat happy that they at least made an effort to try and understand how she had grown up. As the weeks progressed the air became more chilled, and nippy! People began to put coats on except when practicing. Soon the army except for a few of the groups would disband for a while since only small raiding parties could cross at a time in the winter.

They were sitting down in the middle of a field doing much of nothing when Lily sniffed deeply. "It'll snow tonight probably." She said quietly, a note of joy in her voice that she usually only used when she was talking about her home.

"How do you know?" James asked as he too took a deep breathe.

"You can smell it. I once spent a winter up in the northern woods; I will never forget the smell and feel of snow. My home village only gets it once in a while, but up in the north, it is very rare indeed if they don't have snow every day."

"So you really like snow." Sirius asked.

"Yes Sirius I Really like snow." Lily said rolling her eyes. "So what are you guys going to do when they release us for the winter?" She asked as she leaned back and stared at the smoky clouds.

"Actually we wanted to talk to you about that." James said, and all three sat up and even Sirius was shedding his lazy attitude and showing a completely serious face. Lily sat up looking slightly worried.

"We were wondering, that is if your village didn't mind, maybe we could stay with you for a while."

Lily was stunned into silence, not knowing what to make of this. Finally she got the words out of her mouth. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, we think it would be cool, and you're always talking about the people, it would be cool to know them, and maybe get to know more about their history."

Lily smiled a large smile and she felt tears well up at the ends of her eyes. "That would be great." She said finally having gotten control of her emotions. She hugged each one of them hard, and then walked to her tree, wishing they would be released from service right then and there. She couldn't wait till she could introduce them to everyone in her village!

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A/N- OMG I am so so so SOOOOO sorry that it took me forever to get this story updated. I will be updating the others just as fast I can, thank you so much for being patient! I hope you liked this chapter, and I want to say thanx to al of my reviewers!

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_Maddie_!


	10. The home in the forest

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

The morning brought with Lily a slight nip that she wasn't used to. She slowly sat up her eyes still closed trying to decide if it was really worth getting up or not. Though it was a little brighter today then yesterday, which meant that it must be later then she thought it was. Sighing she grabbed her bag and pulled it from the branch that it was hanging from and she opened her eyes and blinked wide and surprised at the sight that greeted her. Her tree was covered in snow, and so was the ground, but not the meager snow she sometimes got in her home village no this snow was at least two feet thick! She stood and smiled and took a step down, accidentally shaking the branch above her. Snow fell, and normally she would have smiled but a very large chunk managed to find its way down her shirt. Lily jerked and slid, well more accurately fell with grace, out of the tree with a screech, the bag following a second later. Everyone stopped what they were doing and quickly glanced at Lily who was looking shocked and frozen. James came running over, soon followed by Sirius and Remus.

"LILY! What's wrong? What happened?!!!"

Lily now had a scrunched up face and before they could ask again what happened Lily reached out and lifted her shirt, much to the embarrassment of all the men, though she didn't raise it that high! Though their embarrassment was short lived as they watched a big chunk of dripping snow fell out. They looked at it for a second and then every single one of them, even the ones not close began to laugh.

Lily's eyes narrowed, and they should have noticed but even Remus was too busy laughing at what had happened. Lily grabbed some snow and before the three could react she walked past them as if in a huff, then turned quickly and threw some down their shirts and watched as the laughter died instantly. Within a second they too were clawing at their backs and Lily was laughing.

There probably would have been a snowball fight, but the commander came out at that time and walked over to the large area where they were told their duties. It was a signal for everyone else to come over because he had something he needed to say. As the last of them gathered the commander cleared his throat and started the announcement.

"Headquarters are going to send a new batch forth to relieve us for the winter. They will arrive tomorrow, so that means that you men can go home for winter tomorrow!!" This statement was greeted with loud boisterous cheers from everyone. Even the commander looked a great more cheerful than usual and before they could quiet down he gave a dismissive wave and walked back to the command tent. Lily smiled at the men's enthusiasm and even was glad of the idea of going home for a longer period of time. Everyone went to their tents and began to pack up their things. But Lily who was already packed walked out to the field and waited for Remus, James and Sirius to finish.

While waiting Lily figured out how they would get into the village. Since they would be disbanding at the same time tomorrow, they wouldn't be able to slip into the forest, not until that night anyways. But she had to wonder at that too. Would the other three be willing to enter into the forests at night? They may say that they would like to know the truth but there was a vast difference between knowing the truth, and that of going into the forest for the first time at night! She was still contemplating these things when the three came up and sat down next to her. Sirius looked at her faced that was slightly scrunched, it was the way she thought of things sometimes and smiled.

"So what are you thinking right now?"

Lily was hesitant for a moment then plowed ahead. "Well there's one thing that concerns me. If we're all going to be leaving at the same time tomorrow the only time we might be able to slip into the forest will be at night, because we CAN'T be seen!" she saw all three of them visibly gulp at the thought of this. "I know, you don't want to do that, it takes a lot of faith. I'm just trying to figure out when else we could do it."

"No Lily we'll go at night. We trust you." Remus said firmly, though he still did have some misgivings, and Lily could tell the others did though they nodded their heads in agreement.

"Alright, but you can change your mind at any time, even if we're about to step through the forest you can still change your mind!"

They smiled at this idea and nodded their head again. Lily stood in an abrupt movement and she turned and looked at the three of them, a concerned look on her face. They stood up too and began to look around thinking that she had heard something, when they felt something wet hit them from behind and they all froze. They turned around slowly only to find that Lily was already running away, back into the middle of the camp laughing. By the end of the evening the rest of the camp was involved in the war, one way or another!

* * *

The replacements for them arrived shortly after breakfast and were greeted with cheers, much to their amusement, but they accepted it graciously. The rest of them gathered up their things and solely began the long trek back to their home. Some of the men would have up to two weeks of walking to do, Lily, James, Sirius and Remus would have maybe a weeks worth of walking, perhaps a little more. They would have close to three months, maybe a little more since they were supposed to report back to that camp near the middle of February. They passed through several towns and the people gathered around the roads and watched as they passed, some looking for familiar faces, others pointing and whispering whenever Lily passed by. But everyone's pace was leisurely and the time passed more quickly then they could imagine.

Many of them set up camp at the same spot, others decided to walk as far as they could until they were dead on their feet. James Sirius and Remus looked towards Lily who quickly glanced around to make sure that no one was in hearing distance.

"We'll sleep for a few hours, then I'll wake you up near the midnight and we can make our way into the forest then. Remember just say the word and we can try and find another way in the forest!"

They nodded their heads and set up their tent. Lily also did this, since the only other trees were the ones that were the forest, and she couldn't do that without consequences. She slept a little more fitfully then usual because of this but when the time came for her to completely get up and wake the boys she still felt refreshed. She quietly wrapped up her tent and walked quietly over to the first tent, which was James's. She shook his leg and he jumped awake with a start and looked at her with bleary eyes.

"It's time!" He blinked a few more times then nodded and began to pack up the few items he had gotten out and crawled out to begin the wrapping of his tent. She did the same thing to the others and again with a few bleary blinks they nodded their heads and got to work. They made their way to the edge of the forest and Lily looked at all the sleeping lumps to make sure that they were all asleep and then she looked back to the three.

"Are you ready?" They slowly nodded their heads and Lily had to smile at this. "Do you want to hold hands?" She said trying not to laugh, but was surprised when they looked at each other and then back at her as if they couldn't quite get themselves to ask her. She looked at them for a second them smiling she grabbed James's hand, who grabbed Sirius's hand who grabbed Remus's hand. She slowly made her way through the thin brush at the edge of the forest, until they were standing under the trees themselves and the air became slightly warmer now that they were shaded from the wind by the trees. Lily let go of their hands and looked back at them.

"Now that wasn't so bad was it?" They shook their head but Lily could still tell that they were constantly watching their surroundings. "We'll walk for a little while and then we'll find a place to camp, but that won't be too hard. There are several places along the path that has areas set aside for a place to sleep. It's for the other humans that come and walk the paths!"

Again they nodded their heads and followed Lily though she noticed that they jumped at every single sound though they tried not to show it! They had been walking for two hours when they came to one of the first resting places. Normally Lily would have walked until she was finished and then found a tree to sleep in but she didn't think the others would like sleeping in a tree. She turned to judge how much longer they could walk only to find that they looked exhausted. Lily sighed and went off the path to the place and they followed looking a little confused.

"We'll rest here until the morning!"

"We've only been walking for two hours though." Sirius said voicing everyone's confusion.

"Yes but the three of you look exhausted. You've been jumping at every little thing that you've tired yourselves out." They looked a little ashamed of themselves and she laughed. "Don't be ashamed, it's only natural the way you were brought up! But trust me you can sleep here without having to look over you shoulder!"

They nodded and found that little snow was on the ground, so they didn't set up the tents. Instead they set out their bedrolls and piled it on with an extra blanket or two and slept that way. Lily climbed to a low branch near one of the trees and fell asleep much more easily then she had a few hours ago. They noticed as soon as she was asleep that she looked happier then they could remember her ever being. She also seemed so at home, and so relaxed that it amazed them a little. But despite their fears they found that Lily was right, they drifted off to sleep with little fear.

They woke to slight sunshine hitting their faces and Lily jumping down from the tree her arms stretching above her and a smile on her face as she observed them. "You look like you slept well." She said her smile never leaving her face.

"Yeah I did anyways." Remus said smiling back.

"I did too!" James and Sirius said at the same time sounding a little surprised by this revelation!

"Okay let's get moving then!"

They walked most of the day at their own pace and as they passed the three of them slowly became less tense, and even began to look around them in wonder. It was beautiful and they could see why Lily loved to visit her home, if not for that simple fact alone. By the end of the third day they felt as comfortable as Lily seemed to be though they had to admit they were still a little cautious. They were starting the journey the fifth day and Lily turned to them and smiled.

"We should reach my village by midday!" There was a bounce to her step and they couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

Sure enough around midday they could faintly hear the noise of a village and some people talking and laughing. There was very faint smoke coming through to them and the smell of food. They could soon make out the huts that they lived in and they looked at each other surprised at what little it seemed they had. Some of their villages were much more advanced at this but they said nothing, deciding not to comment on it. Lily brought them through a path that gradually widened out and she stopped at the edge of the village looking around her and breathing in deeply, she turned to them and smiled.

"Welcome to my home!"

They took a good look around, and as of yet they hadn't been noticed but they realized that the people here, the genji, were happy and content the way they were! They didn't need the advances that the humans seemed to need so much. Lily was also standing there looking at her home and feeling a huge wave of peace sweep through her. That's when she heard the same high pitched scream that had greeted her the last time she faintly saw the other three jump at the suddenness of this but before she could explain Mindy was there hugging her tightly and Lily was laughing because this time instead of her lifting up Mindy, Mindy was lifting her up a little. When she had set Lily down Lily was still laughing.

"You're back!!! How long? You better be able to stay longer then last time!!" Mindy stopped short as she saw who was behind Lily still looking slight bewildered at the exchange. "Who are they?" Mindy's voice wasn't snappish or guarded it one just full of curiosity. "Lily did you get hooked up while you were gone?"

All three boys suddenly coughed and snorted at the same time but Lily chose to ignore this and looked at Mindy. "I see you've changed! And no they're friends from the camp; I can stay for close to three months."

"Yes!" Mindy said triumphantly and grabbed Lily's hand and to the surprise of Sirius she grabbed his hand to and began to drag them both away. Sirius grabbed Remus's shirt who in turn grabbed James's shirt. Lily couldn't help but snicker at this. She stopped Mindy for a second.

"Mindy hold on!" once Mindy had stopped Lily pried the death grip off of her hand. "Stay her for a second; I want to go say hello to Oglith!" Mindy smacked her head own head shaking herself at her thoughtlesness then nodded.

"Oglith, that's the genji that raised her right?" Remus asked Mindy as Lily ran to a hut a little ways off that had one slightly smaller off to the side.

"Yes, Oglith was the one who found Lily Twelve years ago and brought her back to the village. He's like her father!" She said smiling slightly.

Lily meanwhile burst in through the flap and watched as Oglith looked up from a book and smiled. "I thought I heard a commotion outside. I do believe that Mindy has one of the most high pitched screams I have ever had the pleasure of hearing!" He said in his quiet calm voice.

Lily only smiled and gave him a large hug as soon as he had stood up. He smiled at her and asked a question through his eyes, one she could easily ready.

"Three months. I've brought some friends!" Lily added after answering the question. This surprised him, she could tell by the way the eyebrows rose. "Their friends from the camp, I got to know them fairly well, and they wanted to know the truth. So I told it to them, and they seemed to accept it. They asked me if they could spend the winter with me and I thought it would be a good opportunity." Her voice sounded a little hesitant as she began to doubt her decision for the first time.

"I believe that you did the right thing. You will need to take them to the elders of course."

"Yes, that's where Mindy's taking us now I assume."

"Very well, we will talk later." He said smiling and Lily smiled in return, hugged him quickly then ran off to join the now tapping her foot in impatience Mindy, which made Lily laugh.

She led them to the elders but broke off as soon as they reached the actual tent and Lily entered slowly to where only she could stand in the entrance. She would like to tell them before the others actually came in. The elders looked up from their places at Lily and smiled she smiled in return.

"So Lily you have returned from your adventures again, please come in!"

"Thank-you. However I have brought three friends, from the camp." She said quietly.

The Elders exchanged glances but looked at Lily. "Then you must all come in and tell us of your adventures. Be sure to introduce them though."

Lily moved in and beckoned to the three of them. "May I introduce James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin!" She said and she motioned to a place they could sit. The three of them after seeing just why they were called the elders bowed because it seemed like the right thing to do then at Lily's promptings sat down looking a little uncomfortable at all the attention they were getting. Lily sat down next to Remus. The eldest of the elders fixed her unnerving glance at the three boys who tried not to fidget under it but didn't succeed.

"So you have heard the true history I assume!" She said quietly and smiled at the nod of their heads. "Tell me what you thought of it?" It was stated as a question but they knew better then to refuse. Remus was the first to speak.

"It does make a lot of sense!" And with that one comment the tension slowly dripped as they exchanged news for news. Finally after nearly an hour had passed the elders looked towards Lily.

"You'll have to find a place for them to sleep."

"I know!"

"Very well then you can go and relax, we'll talk some time later!"

Lily bowed, quickly followed by the three boys and they exited the hut. They came out looking slightly dazed, but before she could comment on what they thought someone came up from behind Lily and raised her in a bone crushing hug. The person set her down and Lily turned to see Janine smiling at her a look of pure innocence on his face.

"Hello Janine!" Lily said smiling.

"Hello Lily. Who are your friends here?"

"These are James, Remus and Sirius. The gentlemen who happened to be the suppliers of the medicine that saved your meager life!" She said joking with him.

"Well thank-you guys for that!" He said and took their hands pumping them in his thanks. They nodded their heads; they were still a little bewildered. "Still a little amazed, that's understandable. Anyways you guys, especially you Lily, came at the right time!"

"Oh and why is that?" Lily and Sirius asked at the same time.

"Because next week is the official Snake hunt!" He said smiling a mischievous smile. James laughed then coughed to cover it up as Lily shot him a look that could kill while Remus and Sirius only looked confused at this outburst. Lily turned her glare to Janine who raised his hands as if to prove he was not armed.

"Aren't the snakes hibernating?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, we search for their nests. It's tricky but their reflexes are a little off this time of the year! You guys can join in if you want."

"Why did she shoot you a glare?" Sirius asked at he watched James still trying to compose himself.

"Oh that's because Lily's afraid of Snakes!" He said laughing, which made Remus's and Sirius's eyes widen in surprise.

"Thank you for that Janine, but I have to find a place where they can set up their camp. I'll deal with you later!" She said and he smiled a charming smile. He was leaving when he quickly came back and right in her ear made a hissing noise making her jump and him run off laughing. Lily sighed.

"Yeah I love this time of year!" She said sarcastically then towed the boys over to her hut and to where they could set up camp for the next three or so months!

* * *

A/N- Hey guys, here's the next chapter, I hope you liked it. It's a bit longer then the others a treat for you guys lol. I want to say Thanx to all of my reviewers!

-futurePOTUS-  
-Sam's Firefly-  
-Animals are my LIFE-  
-shmokey-bear-  
-justalittleloco-  
-Flame Of Desire-  
-firewalker32-  
-pointy star-  
-Delilah Evans-

Again Thanx so much you guys are awesome and the best!  
_Maddie!_


	11. a filled day

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

Lily led them over to a small area next to her hut and told them that this is where they could set up their tents. They did so, and then put their things in them, getting situated. They came out a few minutes later to see that Lily was talking to one of the genji, a large man, since you could tell the difference between the two. He said something and she smiled, hugged him, then he disappeared into the forest as silent as they all did. Lily looked over noticing them and walked over with a large smile on her face.

"You've come at a lucky time!"

"Oh why's that because the snake hunting's going to begin next week." Sirius said a large smile on his face; ignorant of the murderous look that lily was throwing his way.

"No because tonight is the festival to begin the hunt, lot's of food, dancing, activities, everyone in the forest is going to do it at the same time! So you get to see your first festival tonight, though it probably won't be your last!" She replied having finished glaring at Sirius, who was starting to shiver just the slightest from the temperature drop!

"What does one wear to such an event?" Remus asked, looking around at all that was happening.

"Wear your every day clothes. Later in the festival events they might give you their special clothes, but unless they do that jut wear your every day clothes."

"Sounds good, so what do we do until then?" James was looking a little overwhelmed, actually they all were and she could hardly fault them for that. It was a lot to take at one time!

"Well the elders told me to show you the ropes around her so the real question is what would you like to know? What would you guys like to see? I can show you just about anything here." Lily turned to get a good look at the area of the small town then an idea struck her. "Come with me, I know something that you'll enjoy."

She took them through the village, waving at a few people who called greetings and then brought them to a small trail that led into the forest. This time she was happy to see that none of them hesitated, perhaps because of the greeting they had received from everyone else, and walked calmly behind her. They hadn't been on the trail that long till it opened up into a small clearing with only two or three trees in it, and a number of many other things. Lily instead of going out into the area walked along the side of the forest and sat down urging the others to do the same. They did so sitting down right next to her and for a moment nothing happened.

"Um, Lily what are we doing here?" James asked after looking around a little.

"Shh, just watch, it's coming soon!"

Although they didn't quite understand what she meant the stayed quiet when all of a sudden on the opposite end of the clearing several genji burst out of the forest making the others jump, and almost reach for their weapons in a reflex action, but stopped themselves. Lily only snickered quietly much to their annoyance. That's when they realized what they were doing, they were practicing moves, a lot of complex moves that Lily had never taught them. They were running head on towards the trees and back flipping off them or grabbing one of their branches to swing themselves around and hit whoever they were sparring. The genji people were in excellent shape, and the boys watched them with rapt attention and lily seeing this couldn't help but smile. After they were finished Lily got up without warning and called out to a few of them. The other three stayed behind not sure what they were supposed to do.

They talked for a minute or two and she laughed then turned and beckoned the boys over to her, and they did so slightly confused. "Congratulation boys, met your new trainers!" She said then laughed at their shocked and bewildered faces. "Let me introduce to you Alexander, Fredrick, and Ginta. They will be your teachers, and I suggest you get ready because you start in ten minutes when they catch their breathe." And before they could say anything she was leaving like the wind back towards the village leaving the three of them to stare at her backs in a stunned silence.

"If it makes you feel better, she makes even some of us feel like that, sort of shocked and stupid!" Alexander said casually as he took a drink of water and passed it to the next.

"Really?" Sirius said a little surprised as he turned around. You could tell this surprised him, because it's what was written on his face.

"Oh yeah, we're one year older then Lily, so we grew up together. After her first year here when she got comfortable, and before we learned to fight if we made her mad she would kick our butts." Fredrick said laughing at some memory, and the other two smiled as if they too were thinking of a far off day.

"As soon as she had finished beating the crap out of us she walked away as if nothing had happened and it was all the adults could do to stop from laughing and all we could do was stare at her back in bewilderment." Ginta said giving a hearty laugh as he tossed the water canteen back to Alexander.

"So as our trainer said, you ready to get beaten up?" Fredrick said smiling at the three as he set down the canteen, and after a moments pause, they nodded their heads!

The practice that they laid out for them was going to be to their surprise almost brutal. It involved a lot of activity very little time to rest, and a lot of sweating from the looks of it. They started out by simply stretching, and being shown new ones that worked muscles never worked before. They then moved to the simple kicks and punched to get the blood running, or so that's what they were told. By the end of the exercise they were learning how to do flips, and high kicks. The three trainers stopped them after a long bout of practice and smiled.

"We'll do this routine for several days until we think you've mastered the move, and then we'll add something else until you've mastered that and so forth!" Alexander said he wasn't sweating near as much as the three of them were.

"You did good today, we'll have you doing a bunch of stuff by the time you leave to go south again!" Ginta said with Fredrick nodding in the background, and then with a clap on their backs they all made their way back to the village.

Lily was sitting cross-legged on the ground with a group of children surrounding her with wide eyes. She was speaking to them quietly her hands moving back and forth and then doing something dramatic. And finally she saw them, looked back at the kids and said "To be continued tomorrow!" Much to the annoyance of the children.

"Lily you can't do that to us!" One of the little girls said in obvious displeasure.

"Well you're just going to have to live with the knowledge that you don't get your way all the time." She said chuckling as she stood up and the children followed her movement. "I promise to finish it tomorrow, now off to your lessons or your parents will come after me!"

With a few more grumbling on the children's part they departed to different homes and disappeared inside. Lily walked over to them and smiled. "Did you enjoy yourself?" There was a wicked glint in her eye and they just shook their head, they could definitely see her beating up everyone when she was little.

"Yeah, it was fun, though you could have given us some warning." Remus said sarcastically.

"Now what kind of a friend would I be if I did that. You need to learn to deal with surprises!" She was trying not to laugh, and doing a pretty good job.

"You would have been a good friend giving us some warning." Sirius snorted then looked at himself. "I need to wash up!" He said with a grimace.

"I'll take you to the baths!" Lily said as she walked towards where their tents were. "Go ahead and grab what you're going to change into and I'll take you up there."

"Up where?" James asked a little confused.

"Just go get your stuff!" She said as she disappeared in her home and came out a few seconds later with some clothes in her hands. They did the same thing and followed her as she got on a different path then the one they had used earlier. This one was one that slowly inclined upward, and eventually cane to a small clearing with the entrance to a cave a few feet away. She walked in and stopped in a large cavern that broke off into two tunnels and Lily stopped pointing to the right one.

"This leads to the men and boys lake, it's where we wash, and it leads out to a stream, this side is the women's remember that so you don't get yelled at. When your finished come back here and wait for me, unless I'm already here, but take your time!" She said and then disappeared into the left tunnel, and the three of them went into the right tunnel. It led them to a large lake, no one was there except the three of them and at the sight of a relaxing bath they shed their clothes faster then were thought possible. They did take their time as Lily had suggested then got out dried off with their old clothes and put on the new ones. Lily was waiting for them and smiled at their content expressions. As they were walking back to the village Lily smiled.

"You guys look like your having fun here!"

"Well I am, I like your home very much, and the people in it are really nice." Remus said.

"I'm like Remus, I wasn't expecting everyone to be so nice. I guess after hearing the story I just expected for them to have grudges or hard feelings." James said.

"I haven't decided yet!" Sirius said when she turned to him.

"Oh and why not?" She said her eyes dancing, as if knowing what was coming.

"Because I don't know what they foods like." He said making them all laugh at him.

"Well you'll get to taste them all tonight!"

The rest of the day was spent in a laze, Lily introduced them to many people and Mindy spent a good amount of time with them. They could tell how much she loved Lily and it was fun to watch the two of them spat at each other and tell funny stories. The sun was beginning to go down, and they could see people beginning to make preparation for the festival when Mindy and Lily stood up and smiled.

"We have to go get ready, so you can go ahead and head over there, Alexander, Ginta, and Fredrick said they'd save a spot for you three!" Mindy said in an almost commanding voice and then walked off with Lily waving at them. They both went into Lily's tent and shrugging their shoulder they walked over to the large bonfire that was started and sat next to their trainers. It was fun to see some of them dressed up laughing and to see what kind of food they were placing out for when it was time to eat. James and Remus were sure that Sirius was going to start drooling at any minute.

"And here comes Lily with Mindy. Lily and Mindy always look the best at the festivals because they make their own clothes!" Fredrick said and they all turned and James, Sirius, and Remus's eyes widened at the sight of Lily. Now until this time they had only ever seen her in trousers but tonight she was in a flowing skirt of green, and a shirt with long sleeves that dangled her hair was down, except for two strands in the front that were twisted and attached at the back keeping the rest of the hair from falling in her face. Mindy was likewise dressed and seeing their expressions she leaned in and whispered something to Lily who laughed and then smacked Mindy playfully.

"You look surprised!" Lily said still laughing as they finally reached the six of them.

"Actually very surprised, never seen you in a skirt." Remus said, with James and Sirius nodding, trying to get themselves under control.

"Then just wait until the dancing starts!" She said laughing. She sat down and the rest of the people also did so. The elder came and stood close to the fire and said his speech about the annual snake hunting party and then at the end added a welcome to the three new people to join them, a loud cheer erupted and then the food was served.

"At every festival five people are volunteered to serve, it changes with every festival so no one gets stuck serving more then one time in a row." Lily said as five people each grabbed something and served it to those that wanted it.

"Sounds pretty fair."

"Yeah, I did my serving last year so it will be a while until I do it again, the same for Mindy." Lily said as the server reached them and they both took a little Sirius at this point was smiling at the sight of the food, making the servers chuckle, and they gave him a helping of every thing that passed by him.

This time was filled with laughter and conversation. the ones who really got into the snake hunting talked about strategy, and those that were wither too young, or not going to do it, talked of what they were going to do in place of it. Finally after all the food was eaten, the music began. James, Sirius and Remus stared at the instruments for a while, one or two they recognized, but most they have never seen before and the loved watching how they were played. Lily and Mindy got up and joined several girls that were beginning to dance.

"The first dance is for girls only, the second for men only, then all the ones after that can be danced by both. It's a tradition we've had for the longest time!" Ginta said at James's confused look.

"I see." They watched though as Lily danced, and although she was the shortest one there, with the exception of the small children, this didn't manage to stop her in anyway. She was graceful and beautiful. Or at least that was what James was thinking though he quickly tried to shake the thoughts away because that was no way to think. James, Sirius and Remus stood out of the all men's dance and simply decided to watch, but they found out they couldn't do that with Lily around. She grabbed Sirius's hand and dragged him into a dance after the men's dance was over, and after that dance, she grabbed, James, then Remus. By the end of several hours they were exhausted, and Lily and Mindy were still dancing, and the festival looked as if it wasn't going to be stopping for a while.

"I can understand why Lily loves this place so much. These people here are better people then many of the guys back in my home village." Remus said as they were taking a breather from the dancing.

"Yeah, I can't see how she can go out and spend months away from home to fight in a war that technically she has no part in, or reason to be in it." Sirius said.

"She looks happy right now." James added as they watched her laughing with Mindy at something someone had done.

The other two nodded their agreement. Yes, this place was almost too good to be true!

* * *

A/N- Hey guys I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up!, I hope you enjoyed it though. I want to say thanx to all my reviewers, here's what you guys were waiting for

-Animals are my LIFE-  
-Sam's firefly-  
-Flame Of Desire-  
-hypa4evr-  
-firewalker32-  
-toria-b2-

Again thanx so much you guys are the best!  
_Maddie_  



	12. the horn of jealousy

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters J.K. Rowling does. The plot and other characters are mine thanx!

Summary- It's an alternate universe and the world is in a very dark time. War has been raging for over a year, and fear spreading like wildfire. Forbidden places are everywhere and one woman finds the courage of her people and the love of one man!

-The forbidden places-

When James woke up the next morning it was to hear every single bone in his body protest to the exercises that he had done yesterday. In fact he was sure that when he tried to sit up he would find that he simply split into hundreds of pieces. He groaned slightly then opened his eyes only to be greeted by the face of Lily Evans staring over him. He slammed up and away from her in surprise and fell off the cot. This did nothing for all of the kinks he was feeling and he swore silently and glared at Lily.

"Do you have to creep around here and then hover over someone not saying anything?" He sounded somewhat annoyed and exhausted.

"Well I was about to wake you up, actually using noise for your information. You just happened to open your eyes first. Now would you like to join Mindy, Sirius, Remus and me for breakfast in my tent?"

He paused and instead of answering the question asked another in it's place. "Sirius is actually awake?"

"Yes, although he wasn't too happy at first until he heard the word food." Lily said simply and James couldn't help but smile.

"Fine I'll be there in a few minutes." He said and then realizing that he was wasn't wearing a shirt, since it was fairly warm in the forest he couldn't help but grab the blanket and pull it up to his neck. Lily seeing this sniggered and he threw her a glare.

Lily walked out and headed to her own cot that now had Sirius and Mindy in it. She had just sat down when Remus came in yawning slightly but otherwise having no complaints since he didn't mind getting up early. A few minutes later James came stumbling in and sat down between Lily and Mindy since that was the only place left. They dug into the food happy to have something to eat and for a while there wasn't much conversation. The day began with training, baths talk with the people of the village, it soon became a regular routine.

The first change arrived when after another round of practice a small horn sounded from somewhere deeper in the forest. Everywhere the genji stopped what they were doing and turned their faces towards the horns as it ended with a higher note. James, Sirius and Remus watched as a few of them walked towards their cots and came back out holding things, something vaguely resembling letters. He looked over to see that Mindy had the same kind of thing in her hand and she was looking excited.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked looking pointedly at the thing in Mindy's hand hoping to make his question more obvious.

"It's our versions of letters." Lily said quietly as people picked up their they had been doing, though always a little preoccupied looking. "That horn call means that someone's coming in the village a traveler. Now whether he goes back north or farther south, we can hand them our letters and they will deliver it for us."

"Well that's convenient." Remus said.

"Do you use horn calls for a lot of things?" James asked bring back Lily's attention, who like many of the people in the village, was looking at the path towards the north end of the camp.

"Yes, different calls mean different things, depending on whether their good or not, the usual kind of sounds vary."

"How is it that humans outside of the forest can't hear it?"

"It's actually not blown very loud, but it has something to do with the trees, it sends the waves from the horn farther and louder then it actually is. By the time the sound actually reached the edge of the forest you can't hear it unless you have superb hearing. And by superb I mean unnatural."

"Hey it's a human who came this time!" Mindy said since figures were beginning to come through the trees, and they were much shorter then the genji. The others looked at the north path and Lily's face broke out into a large grin!

"FRANK!" She yelled and took off running.

Frank hearing his name called out looked up just in time to open his arms wide as Lily flew into them. He seemed surprised in a second, but then began to laugh heartily. The two people behind him paused in what looked like shock. James, Remus and Sirius followed much more slowly and by the time they reached the two of them they had finished hugging.

"Lily, how are you my dear!" Frank said smiling as Lily took a step back so James, Sirius, and Remus could come up and shake hands with him. "And the three gentlemen, now this is a surprise." He said laughing as he returned their shakes.

"We convinced Lily to let us come and visit her village, I have to say, I don't know how she manages to leave this place." Remus said laughing.

"Ah, now where are my manners, let me introduce you to my two children. This is my son Jamal, and my daughter Nadia." The two of them smiled as Lily came up and shook their hands followed by the boys.

It was then that James noticed something, Jamal was looking at Lily very much in a way a man looked at a woman. For some reason this irked him, though he didn't know why, I mean he and lily just did not have that kind of a relationship. It was more of a friendly one, but that did nothing to settle his mind, if anything it made him slightly more aggravated. James was taken from his thoughts when Lily began talking to Frank again.

"How long are you going to stay?"

"A day, and then we head south. My wife, who had been in the north took it upon herself to go farther south while I was away. We're going to meet up with her." He sounded exasperated and Lily couldn't help but snicker though she ducked her head when Frank looked her way.

"Well I'll let you collect the letters first, otherwise I will be in trouble." Lily said and hugged Frank again. The three of them walked to the center where the elders had gathered and anyone who had a letter they wished to be taken. Jamal and Nadia stayed behind since Lily had turned to smile at them.

"Hello, I'm Lily." She said since Frank really hadn't gotten to introduce her. "These are James, Remus and Sirius."

"Jamal!" He came up and shook Lily's hand smiling brightly.

James had no clue as to what possessed him but before he knew consciously what he was doing he had walked up next to Lily draped and arm casually around and smiled his most pleasant, if not somewhat fake smile. "James," shaking Jamal's hand "How long have you lived with the genji?" Lily ignored the arm, James, Sirius and even occasionally Remus had done this to her so this was nothing new. Sirius and Remus however knew exactly what it was about and it was all they could do to keep from snickering.

"I've lived with them my whole life." He said, still smiling brightly, though the others noticed slightly more subdued at the behavior of James and what it obviously meant.

Sirius and Remus came up and shook hands with Nadia who had kept to the back during all this time. She smiled at them, but unlike her brother she kept to the back talking when spoke to otherwise mostly just listening. They talked for a while and probably would have talked longer when a voice brought them out of their conversations.

"LILY, you better get over here and finish that story that you said you would finish two weeks ago!!!!" The speaker was a young genji girl, her friends behind her, all of them looking impatient and to the point where if need be they would drag her away so she could tell the story.

Lily laughed slightly and turned to look at the two new people.

"Sorry, I have to go, we'll talk later though." She said and then slipped out from underneath James's arm easily, since she had done it several times. The kids realized that she was coming over to finish the story settled down.

The three of them turned to talk to Jamal and Nadia some more when they were gripped from behind and their feet swept from out beneath them. Fredrick, Ginta, and Alexander had come up behind them and grinned something like evil smiles in the boys opinions.

"Just because we have visitors doesn't mean you get to skip practice!" Ginta said as the boys struggled to get their feet beneath them and they waved to the two visitors who after looking briefly shocked walked towards their father.

Sirius looked reproachfully over at Alexander who had dragged him away. "You know you just ruined the perfect opportunity for me. I was totally charming that Nadia girl away!" And the sad thing was that it was true. Nadia obviously found Sirius entertaining and charming since she had actually began to talk a little more then she had earlier.

"Well you can just romance her later." Fredrick said laughing as they made their way into the practice field. "Now take your positions, we're already starting late as it is and you know I hate starting late." Which was true, Fredrick was all about meeting the time limits.

After an exhausting practice they went to the caves to rinse off and made their way to the village where Lily was finishing up her story. The kids sat around her, and no one even blinked their attention was so fixed. From the other side the three of them could see Frank, Jamal, and Nadia watching this, Frank with loads of amusement. Frank seeing them walked over and stood next to them, though still watching Lily.

"How's the war effort going?" he asked quietly so as not to get glares thrown at him from the children for talking to loud, which had happened to him earlier.

"Good I guess." Sirius said shrugging his shoulders. "I mean can you ever really tell who's winning in that kind of a situation?"

"No I guess not."

"It's not as bad as it could be, I mean winter time there's not really anywhere to fight the battles. It's mostly scuffles between scouting parties." Remus added after Frank finished talking. James stayed quiet since they had pretty much said everything that was worth saying.

"You guys will look after Lily won't you?" He said even quieter than before. The three of them looked over at him slightly confused as to why he would even ask this. "Lily is the kind of person that can connect with anyone and everyone. She hasn't really been in many major battles other than that one in the beginning. Since then she's gotten to know some of the southerners, she'll be able to connect with them. I just think she might be a little too fragile at some times and she's going to need looking after."

"You don't really even have to ask you know!" James said smiling at him. "We look out for her all the time, just like she looks out for us."

Frank smiled. "I know, I just wanted actual confirmation, it makes me feel a little better."

"You know, she's always really glad to see you." Remus said laughing, thinking about all the times Lily had met Frank. It had always been with a huge smile and a hug, they were connected.

"Well I have to admit, I always am happy to see her also. She's a special girl." He said smiling and then clapped James on the shoulder and walked back over to his kids, who made their way to a small clearing next to the boys tent, and began to set up their own tents since they were going to be staying the rest of the night. The boys watched fascinated as they began to set up one that was slightly smaller than Lily's and looked portable, which it was. Loud applause and claps drew their attention to their kids who were smiling and Lily was laughing, having obviously finished the story.

After the kids swarmed off, back to their parents, Lily walked over to them and just stared for a few minutes until they were squirming uncomfortably. "What!" Sirius said finally since he was usually the first one to crack under Lily's gaze.

"Nothing, that was just an interesting conversation you had with Frank." She said simply making their eyes roll.

"You know it kind of sucks you guys having such good hearing." James said sarcastically.

"I know, but it's very convenient for us." She was smiling somewhat smugly in their opinions. She looked at them for another second then shrugged deciding not to say anymore that what she had already said.

The rest of the day passed in a blur and do to the fact that they had guests they had some extra things cooked for dinner, much to the happiness of Sirius. Although it was hard to make him happier since he was sitting next to Nadia, and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. It was halfway through the dinner that James looked up and saw that Lily and Jamal were deep in conversation and once again that seep stab of jealousy hit, that he had no idea where it came from. He looked away from then after a minute and started a conversation with Remus, but he could help but keep looking over there everyone in a while, much to the amusement of Remus.

The feast passed on and finally everyone began to drift back to their huts, ready for a good nights sleep, including Frank, Jamal, and Nadia. James was following Sirius and Remus when he noticed that Lily was still sitting where she had been, but she was looking up. James changed his course of direction and went and sat next to her. She looked over at him and smiled then looked back up to the sky. He opened his mouth to say something but she shook her head.

"Look up there, at nothing specific, just sort of behind the stars." She said her voice barley a whisper.

James looked a little weirdly at her but looked up and did as she said. At first he saw nothing and was about to tell her so when he saw what she was looking at. You could faintly see several stars shooting across the sky, more following the ones he saw and he smiled brightly. She looked back at him after a while and she was smiling that knowing smile that she always seemed to have.

"Pretty cool huh?"

"Pretty cool." He agreed.

"What's up?" She asked when he looked at her as if he wanted to say something, which he did he just didn't want to or know how to say it.

"Nothing." He said quietly.

"Well it's got to be something, it can't be that hard to say." She said laughing slightly.

He still didn't say anything, so she tried another tactic. "You know people say that if you make a wish just as a shooting star crosses the sky it'll come true." She looked up at the sky then back at James expectantly.

She was smiling when it was wiped from her face when James leaned down, and on impulse, gently touched his lips to hers!

* * *

A/N- wow I don't even really have an excuse as to why I haven't updated till now, except that I'm a HUGE procrastinator. Also, I know it was really mean of me to make you wait this long and then leave it off like this, but I have my reasons for doing it. One I totally thought it was an awesome place to leave it off the other was because I wanted to do the next chapter by working off this event. I also have most of the next chapter planned out in my head already so it shouldn't take me as long to get the next chapter out.

I would like to dedicate the chapter to **keygal1**! You pestered me for months to get this chapter up, for which I am grateful, because if you hadn't I probably wouldn't have even updated it at the moment. So I hope you liked this chapter and remember it was all because of you that I got it up!!

Anyways thanks to all of my reviewers!  
-Blackheart09-  
-Animals are my LIFE-  
-Sam's Firefly-  
-justalittleloco-  
-firewalker32-  
-Iluvharrpotteriamaflobberworm1-

Again thanx so much and I WILL try to get my next chapter up quicker.


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